The Higher Education Council (HEC) has listed 32 innovative projects created by university students in order to link them to investors as a way of rescuing innovations that never come to fruition. The listed projects have solutions to problems in various sectors.

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They include cook stoves, a device that can help women to know the date of their menstruation, mainly in rural areas or among uneducated populations, and a stove that protects the environment as it produces no smoke. In addition, a device that can be used to test glucose in the blood (a test for diabetes) without the need for injection, producing biscuits that can fight against malnutrition and stunting at a low cost and locally for children under 5 years, and the project to produce wine, starch, and biscuits from Irish potatoes.

The innovative projects also include a walking stick used by blind persons, producing lotion from yellow banana peels, treating depression in patients with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, an app to track medication adherence for HIV/AIDS patients, and a GIS-based electricity fraud detection system.

There is also the Right Lamp Automatic Changeover Switch (RLACS), an innovative electrical device that allows for the automatic switching between two sources of power and a smart irrigation system—an advanced technology solution that is designed to evaluate the status of the soil, including fertilisers content.

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Others include an Automatic Electronic Water Counter, a device designed to measure and record water usage in homes, businesses, and other facilities. This project aims to indicate how mothers around the Ruli Health Center handle diarrhoea outbreaks in children under five and offer advice on how to improve the care of children with diarrhoea through proper practices, and a solar-powered automatic irrigation system.

A timber dryer (which harvests and uses solar energy to dry timber), recycled glass materials used in the making of tiles, production of pellets as an alternative to charcoal and gas, producing the macadamia which can adapt to all agro-ecological zones of Rwanda, producing packaging paper from banana fibre, producing natural wine from bananas, are also among the inventions.

Rose Mukankomeje, Director General of HEC, said the innovations will be exhibited in a three-day Higher Learning Institutions Exhibition and Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (STEM) competition that will take place from May 9 to May 11 at the Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village.

The initiative aims to involve higher learning institutions in research and innovation to improve the provision of suitable higher education in Rwanda.

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The best innovative projects will also be awarded, she said, the top five projects will receive a monetary award, with the first bagging Rwf5 million, the second will bag Rwf4 million, and the third will bag Rwf3 million. The fourth and fifth projects will receive Rwf2 million and Rwf1 million respectively.

"Young creative innovators usually do not have the financial means to implement their innovative project. We want to work with the private sector so that it can invest in the innovative projects of these students or buy their innovative ideas,” she said.

Universities to review curriculum every four years

Mukankomeje stated that no university will be permitted to introduce a program without first demonstrating that it can assist in resolving issues in the community and that it is required in the labour market.

Meanwhile, the University of Rwanda is set to carry out a comprehensive review of all the 158 academic programmes it offers, with a target to phase out those that do not reflect the realities of the current labour market.

Mukankomeje said all universities should continually work with employers to ensure programs are adjusted to meet new demands in the labour market.