The University of Rwanda’s African Center of Excellence in Internet of Things (ACEIoT) successfully obtained a grant for a project titled "IoT and AI Applied Research Result Commercialization Through Incubation Hub” amidst stiff competition.
On Thursday, June 6, UR’s ACEIoT organised a workshop attended by private and governmental institutions, as well as companies involved in the project. The workshop aimed to address stakeholders’ participation, discuss the project, and establish connections with industries.
This project is funded by Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA), a multi-country project funded by the UK through the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) to support research and innovation systems strengthening in Africa.
When this venture started as a one-year project in January 2023, it was slated to conclude in December 2023. However, it has been extended to December 2024 with additional funding.
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The incubation hub has provided capacity-building programmes that provide business development skills for managing the transition of applied research initiatives from lab to market where 40 projects members have been trained and 8 of them have been selected to receive seed funding of $ 5000 each for further development.
Associate Prof. Richard Musabe, speaking on behalf of the Principal of the College of Science and Technology, UR, commended the work being done by the project as it reflects the college&039;s ambition to turn ideas into tangible solutions to benefit society. He highlighted the college's commitment to supporting such innovations to advance this cause.
In his remarks, Assoc. Prof. Damien Hanyurwimfura, the Principal Investigator of the project, explained what the second phase of the project will be about and emphasised how the incubation hub will continue to be a place that facilitates the exchange of knowledge between research, learning, and innovation into practice by partner industries.
"This is the continuation of the project’s activities from the previous year, in which we foster industry collaboration through joint training with industry experts, establishing connections between developed IoT/AI research solutions and developing industries, and facilitating the transfer of technical know-how from labs to industry,” he stated.
Hanyurwimfura also added that they establish connections between graduates, students, and industries for potential future careers and jobs.
Dr. Esperance Munganyinka from the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) presented different funding models that are provided by NCST which the incubatees can benefit from.
In her presentation, Ms Kellen Twinamatsiko from Rwanda development Board (RDB) highlighted the introduced innovators’ rights and urged innovators to ensure their innovations are registered and protected by acquiring the Intellectual Property (IP) from Rwanda Development Board.
Alex Ntale, a representative of the ICT Chamber of the Private Sector Federation, applauded the initiative for developing a mechanism to serve students’ needs so that what they are learning can be converted into their everyday lives.
"Ensuring that we generate possibilities for students, even though our innovation is still at the digitisation level, we are hoping to change the narrative and have true science and improvement that can gain us intellectual property rights, as we all know what science does,” Ntale said.
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Fourth-year mining engineering student Odile Uwimpuhwe who’s project has been selected for further development said the IoT workshop opened up a lot of doors for her, one of which was presenting her project, the "Smart Mining Jacket”, to several stakeholders.
"The hands-on labs were a great way to continue practicing my project, and I’m excited to continue tinkering with my project. I witness that this workshop has given me a strong foundation to explore the exciting world of IoT further,” Uwimpuhwe added.
Alain Patrick Ndegera, founder of Magis Let Company and one of the participants, praised the initiative and the project’s second funding round, stating that it is an excellent chance for young engineers and graduates.
"I think the new generations are extremely lucky. In our time, we didn’t have such a possibility, to have a project that can support our ambitions and fund our project; everything was based in class, but now they are lucky to get trained and sponsored if needed,” Ndegera reiterated.
This workshop was attended by various privates companies, public institutions representatives, URresearchers and innovators.