A diverse assembly of experts, visionaries, and students converged to explore the untapped potential of creating a culture of innovation on campus that seamlessly links society and academia.

That was on November 9, during the second innovation week hosted by the University of Rwanda in collaboration with the African Centre of Excellence in Energy for Sustainable Development (ACEESD), through Grid Innovation and Incubation Hub (GIIH).

Under the theme "Scaling up university enabled innovation for a thriving Rwanda and Africa”, the three-day event at Kigali Conference and Exhibition Center (KCEV), is on the ambitious initiative to transform universities into living labs, paving the way for student-led campus development that transcends the conventional boundaries of sustainability.

The dialogue sparked innovative ideas, calling students to be at the forefront of driving campus development projects.

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Creating a culture of innovation where society and university interact

Alain Ntwali, a student pursuing a Bachelor of Architecture, believes that bringing innovation and living lab concepts to universities is crucial.

"For instance, in our final year projects, we focus on real-world issues like renovating existing schools and other poorly designed houses in our community. This is more practical than solving problems hypothetically,” Ntwali said.

He added: "Applying this living lab idea helps us address actual problems and enhances our learning experience in the four building walls and outside the campus to propel society towards sustainable progress in different sectors.”

Similar to what the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) does, he said, it encourages students to work on diverse projects, promoting hands-on learning and making education more practical and impactful.

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Felicien Niyomugabo, an agricultural economics graduate from UR, suggests that universities should enhance partnerships, particularly with initiatives based in rural areas.

Niyomugabo said: "For over two years engaged in ‘Societal University Village Initiative’ after finishing my studies, I have learnt a lot more than I got from school. For this reason, I can assure you, there is a difference between theoretical and hands-on learning.”

"Therefore, universities should consider scaling up community engaged learning because it gives students the opportunity to engage and integrate themselves within the community so that they can learn more about the innovation interface,” he said.

He added: "Whatever a student is pursuing, if you will not engage with communities, you will not generate any solution. The problems are there, especially in villages but we never deal with them on the spot. I challenge schools to provide less theoretical studies and more practical work because you cannot do innovation unless you have the capacity to do so. Innovation interface is like the bottleneck; you cannot open it until you know where to start from.”

Niyomugabo recommended schools to enhance and establish community learning activities and workshops so that students are able to identify the bottlenecks, and innovation interfaces so that they can be able to develop innovations that are demand-driven to the community and solve them on the spot.

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Alphonse Mulefu, the Acting Principal at the College of Arts and Social Science (CASS), recognizes that universities have the potential to contribute to innovation because that’s where the majority of people who are specialized in research, teaching, and knowledge creation are based.

"It is up to the institutions to create space so that the available resources are able to respond to the societal challenges,” he said.

Innovations should come with an aspect of addressing those challenges, he added, which is why new ideas often come to address a particular issue.

"Therefore, universities need to establish linkages between practitioners in order to identify the challenges around but also be able to nurture new ideas to the level of being able to implement them effectively,” he said.