At the Pan African University Institute for Basic Sciences Technology and Innovation (PAUSTI), the Incubation Centre of Excellence, funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), has opened its doors in an effort to foster and foster innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and connections with the private sector.
Four master’s and PhD programs are offered through PAUSTI, a postgraduate centre of research and innovation housed in Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
The PAUSTI Centre of Excellence (PAUSTI CoE), funded by the AfDB, is a cutting-edge facility and innovation centre that aims to encourage and foster innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and connections with the private sector. In order to promote innovation and entrepreneurship on the continent, it also aims to speed up the implementation of research and development through technology and connections with the private sector.
The AfDB-funded Incubation Centre was established in June 2021, and during the next seven months, it has assisted innovators by holding capacity-building workshops, giving them business training, and offering money of up to US $5,000. Twelve ideas were recently presented in order to expose and connect them to important stakeholders who would help them expand, either via finance or employment prospects.
The inventors were praised by Hendrina Chalwe Dorobo, division manager of the AfDB for education and skills development, for expanding on their concepts and creating a functional prototype that is ready for commercialization. Strong collaborations, she claimed, like the one involved in administering the Incubation Center, are essential in assuring the applicability and viability of the solutions developed by academics and innovators.
“As the African Development Bank, we are committed to ensuring that innovations do not just gather dust but create value and enhance the socio-economic development of the continent,” she said.
