Entrepreneurship – ACE – Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence

April 10, 2023August 30, 2023

Pushing the Frontiers of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa’s Higher Education Eco-System

Globalization and internationalization, amongst other factors, have modified the role African universities play in society. Universities are now expected to be highly innovative and entrepreneurial; commercializing their research outcomes and spinning-out new knowledge-based enterprises, collaborating closely with the private sector, and offering advisory services, among a host of other key actions. The reduction in countries public funds, coupled with the lean government budgets for higher education, demand that higher education innovate and generates external funding to supplement its budget and facilitate meeting overall goals.

In response to this need, the ACE Impact project is strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship activities in 35 participating universities, while actively contributing to the creation of a pool of highly innovative universities, a crucial group needed to champion Africa’s economic transformation agenda. Since its inception in 2019, the project has supported the 53 ACE Impact centres to develop robust implementation plans in three core areas – 1) strengthening of technology transfer 2) development of institutional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem and 3) innovation-oriented cooperation of research infrastructures. The prioritization of these key areas is congruous with the Disbursement Linked Indicator 5.3 (DLI 5.3), included in the project to track the successes and results of participating centres in meeting pre-agreed milestones under the critical themes of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Under this DLI (DLI 5.3), the project, working alongside experts, supported the centres to develop plans and implement activities related to innovation and entrepreneurship. A thorough review process of centres implementation plans revealed they were at different levels in terms of their institutional innovation ecosystem. centres were advised and empowered to measure their technological institutional readiness for innovation and entrepreneurship. The centres have been equipped with the requisite tools and information to facilitate the engagement of authorities in their institutions and at the country levels to prioritize innovation.

The senior consultant and expert in entrepreneurship and innovation at the World Bank, Dr. Danica Ramljakan, provided very pertinent feedback to the centres following the review process, including the recommendation that the centres need to have appropriate Science Technology Innovation (STI) policies in place and ensure its effective implementation. Centres were charged by her to ensure that institutional capacity building for STI management and governance were in place, in addition to establishing efficient models for knowledge transfer to prioritize capacity building.

The ACE Impact project also charged the centres to define their research and development priorities, develop a roadmap for research infrastructure, and provide sustainable support for innovation development. Equally important to fostering innovation and entrepreneurial activities were the recommendations to attract the private sector to collaborate and invest in higher education Institutions’’ research and development (R&D), strengthen international collaborations, and inform the general public about the importance of the Centres’ work.

Centres have already begun to implement key interventions and have recorded significant improvements.

The Centre of Excellence for Food Technology and Research (CEFTER) at the Benue State University, Nigeria, for instance, has established a new Technology Transfer Office (TTO) and appointed a Technology Transfer Officer, as part of its intervention to strengthen the management of innovation and promote entrepreneurship/commercialisation. CEFTER has also instituted a startup grant scheme, to accelerate good business ideas and drive innovation forward. Already, 10 startups with commercialisable ideas have been selected to benefit from this scheme, following a competitive process involving 1,080 applicants. They are set to undergo a three (3) months incubation (booth camp) during which they will interact with experts in different fields for technical support, as well as undergo training on important subjects, including market research, product development, testing and validation, financial modelling, innovator business branding among others.

The ICT-Driven Knowledge Park (OAK-PARK) at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria developed a non-credit unit course ETR 700 (Engineering Entrepreneurship Process) and offered this course to its postgraduate students, dentistry students and faculty members of the Centre. The centre’s recently established Incubation Centre and ICT Garden were commissioned in December 2022 by Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim, who also gave a lecture on the topic ‘Research, Innovation and Sustainable Development’, as part of a lecture and commissioning event organised by the centre to bring its stakeholders together to engage with the topic of innovation.

Centres under the ACE Impact project have also been creating important platforms to engage key stakeholders from industry, government and the general public through the organisation of innovation weeks and research fares. In November, 2022, CEFTER hosted the West and Central Africa Post Harvest Congress and exhibition in Abuja, where most of its innovations were exhibited and in February 2023, it hosted its annual food week (innovation week) during which Masters and PhD students showcased different food processing and packaging technologies they had innovated. The Centre Leader, Dr Barnabas Ikyo, concludes that the project has positively impacted the University in various areas, citing an example that its company – CEFTER Foods Nigeria Ltd, established in line with the centre’s entrepreneurial activities, produces water, cassava-based cookies and bread in commercial quantities to serve both the university and external community members. He adds that as result of ongoing research by the Centre, the State Government released seventy (70) hectares of land to the university to build a College of agriculture, cultivate model farms and to carry out other innovative research activities.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) to support entrepreneurship and innovation, and commercialization of research have also been entered into by some centre’s of excellence and various strategic partners to facilitate implementation and engagement on various fronts.

Looking ahead, the Centres of Excellence are optimistic about pushing the frontiers of innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa’s higher education eco-system and deepening their engagement and impact in this topical focus area. From viable businesses, the take-off of spin off companies, the registration of patents, introduction of resourceful products and technologies, and strengthening of appropriate systems, partnerships and the entire innovation eco-system, the Centres current efforts are soon to reach maturity for Africa’s benefit.

June 15, 2022August 2, 2022

Innovative Societies Have Stable Economic Growth – Dr. Danica Ramljak

A senior consultant and expert in entrepreneurship and innovation at the World Bank, Dr. Danica Ramljak underscored the critical role innovation and entrepreneurship play in advancing the economic growth of countries. Speaking during the session on entrepreneurship and innovation, at the 7^th ACE Impact regional workshop held in Cotonou Benin, she called on higher education institutions to strengthen their efforts in the areas of technology transfer, development of institutional innovation and the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The session broadly featured an interactive discussion on how the 53 Centres of Excellence are progressing with entrepreneurship and innovation, building on lessons from both within and outside the African continent.

The Disbursement Linked Indicator (DLI) 5.3 – Key Observations and Next Steps

Making a presentation on DLI 5.3 which focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship, Dr. Danica Ramljak took participants through the key targets of the implementation plan, including a focus on innovation-oriented cooperation in research infrastructures and collaboration with the private sector. Centres had earlier been given opportunities to develop implementation plans on how to accomplish the activities related to innovation and entrepreneurship as part of DLI5.3. Dr. Danika used the opportunity to provide feedback to the Centres on their applications.

She called on the centres to pay special attention to the established criteria for the review process of applications under this indicator, which included – quality background description of institutional and innovation ecosystems. Others included justification for the proposed activity and a detailed explanation of the proposed implementation plan with specific descriptions of each activity, highlighting the goals, timelines and person (s) responsible. The verification criteria and budget as well as the justification for the budget were said to be part of the criteria.

Commenting on the general results from the review process, it was mentioned that the quality of applications significantly differed, in ways which cannot be attributed to the country of origin or scientific research interest areas of the Centres. The number of improved resubmissions were also noted to have been significantly increased during the resubmission stage. Again, it was observed that the Centres were at different levels in terms of institutional innovation ecosystem.

Participants were reminded of the key roles of higher education in the areas of knowledge generation, training of skilled human resource and the development of technology that can be transferred to industry among others. Based on these roles, including others such as undertaking research for industry and the development of competitive products, the session participants were encouraged to advocate and engage the authorities in their institutions and at the country levels to prioritise innovation.

They were also encouraged to measure and determine the technology readiness level of their institutions for innovation and commercialisation as this was an important step towards planning and putting measures in place to foster the readiness of their systems for full scale deployment.

Key among the recommendations towards becoming fully blown entrepreneurial and innovative institutions, the importance of having appropriate Science Technology Innovation (STI) policies in place and ensuring its effective implementation was underscored. Other recommendations outlined included – ensuring institutional capacity building for STI management and governance, the establishment of efficient models for knowledge transfer and the provision of institutional capacity building. It was also recommended that centres define their research and development priorities, develop a roadmap for research infrastructure and provide sustainable support for innovation development. Equally important to fostering innovation and entrepreneurial activities were the recommendations to attract the private sector to collaborate and invest in HEIs research and development (R&D), the need to strengthen international collaborations, a well as inform the general public about the importance of the Centres’ work.

Experience Sharing on Entrepreneurship and Innovation by Three Centres of Excellence – ACECoR, CERSA and OAU-OAK PARK

A high-level panel composed of Mr. Joshua Adotey from the Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience (ACECoR), Ghana, Prof. Adesola Aderounmu from OAU ICT-Driven Knowledge Park, Nigeria and Dr. Edoh representing the Regional Center of Excellence on Avian Sciences (CERSA), Togo discussed key issues and shared their experiences on how to excel and meet the requirements of DLI 5.3.

Speaking on the key challenges encountered in their institutions’ ecosystems which inhibit their work in this area, CERSA identified the lack of a technology transfer office to facilitate their commercialization process, and the low marketing of results generated by the researchers. For ACECoR, there was the lack of entrepreneurship policies at the initial stage of developing the framework for the DLI. Limited engagement and collaboration between industry and the university was also a challenge, however this has been improved drastically and currently industry members are engaged closely in various ways, including in remodeling some programmes and courses. ACECoR highlighted how the support from university authorities, especially the vice-chancellor helped them overcome some of their challenges, leading to the strengthening of their technology office.

For OAU-OAK PARK, the focus on developing the skills of students had been prime on their agenda, however the development of IT entrepreneurs had not been prioritized, thus they identified the need to train the youth in this area for wealth creation and capacity development among others. Having done all these however, the key challenge of their inability to attract investors to fund the innovations and products including spin off institutions, remains. Another challenge faced related to intellectual property rights issues which come up as they partner with industry in generating some innovations. Participants were told that the centre has put in place pragmatic measures to overcome these challenges, including training students to develop business plans, providing seed funding for the innovations, engaging the University’s intellectual property rights office from the start of discussions with industry players.

Speaking on how to be successful in innovation, the experienced panelists advised centres to strengthen their engagement with the private sector, implement measures to motivate their researchers, and to develop and implement institutional manuals and procedures to guide various processes. Again, the Centres were encouraged to ensure that there is a fully functional entrepreneurial ecosystem which has people with the right skills, a pool of investors supporting their research work, a ready market to uptake developed innovations and the sensitisation of stakeholders to embrace entrepreneurship. Additionally, commitment from institutional authorities toward innovation and entrepreneurship was said to be key, just like having an Intellectual Property Technology Transfer Office (IPPTO) and a sustainability plan.

Centre’s Impact on University Systems

Tackling the discussion on how Centre’s activities impact and strengthen the university system, numerous contributions were shared. Among these, ACECoR for instance is engaging the University’s Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) in operationalising the formulation on Innovation, thereby building capacity in the team. It is also creating an enabling environment for the service incubation centre of the institution.

Similarly, OAU- OAK is supporting capacity building of the institution’s Business Resource Centre, linking this centre to industry players and also collaborating with them to organise technology focused conferences. Again, some spin off companies from the centre’s activities now serve as places for practical skill acquisition for the University’s students, through internships.

Leveraging ACE Impact Project to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship in African HEIs

Following a question-and-answer session from participants, Dr. Danica Ramljak wrapped up the session by calling on the centres to leverage the opportunity presented by the project to improve their institutions’ innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Centres were encouraged to for instance draw on the project to beef up capacity in their technology transfer offices, if they are understaffed. They were urged to strengthen partnerships among themselves as centres and with other international partners, advocate for the development and implementation of Intellectual Property Policies among others.

Finally, the centres of excellence were called upon to lobby and engage their ministries and universities to recognise innovation and entrepreneurship activities of researchers as part of career progress and promotion indicators, and equally work hard to bring in money from other external sources to support innovation and entrepreneurship as these are key ingredients to economic growth of countries across the continent.

Written By: Mrs. Felicia Nkrumah Kuagbedzi, Senior Communications and Publications Officer, AAU