UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI IGNITE INNOVATION: Four student teams win funding and trip to Germany
On October 25, 2023, budding talents from the University of Nairobi and Riara University converged in a grand demo and showcase event. Dubbed UNIINNOVATORS Startups-in-residence program unfolded at iHub Nairobi, co-funded by Co-creation hub, GIZ & Make it in Africa. The hub is dedicated to nurturing innovations and startups in Africa.
Innovation survives only when people believe in their ideas; the remarkable occasion witnessed 12 presentations from esteemed innovators, students from the University of Nairobi and Riara University, showcasing adequately incubated transformative diverse innovations with prototypes aiming to create solutions to common societal challenges ranging from Agriculture, Healthcare, Energy, technology and the circular economy.
The core of the program was to highlight and rank the best student-led innovations based on, the uniqueness of the project, scalability, creativity, Market reach, research credibility, target audience demography among other factors. Scrutiny was done by a panel of judges, comprising of industry professionals, researchers, analysts and experienced fellas in the innovation and technology space.
Of the six participating teams selected; four from the University of Nairobi emerged victorious;
Hygiea by Mariam Salim’s team, took first in the competition; an innovative solution that employs machine learning technology and camera monitoring to ensure hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers, it aims to solve for hospital acquired infections HAI’s that affect 1.7 Million people and is responsible for 199,000 deaths annually.
DEV HEALTH by Nafisa Agil’s team, a medicine student from the University of Nairobi came second in the ranks, an innovation with aims to improve patients’ lives by fostering effective communication and understanding between healthcare providers and the deaf community.
ARAKONIVA by University of Nairobi pharmacy students Josiah Mbote and Jannice Odhiambo, a project on salivary-based device for early breast cancer detection which is accurate, affordable and user friendly scooped the third position.
CARE CONNECT AFRICA by Martina Sukawa and her team emerged fourth, an innovation on a platform to empower pregnant women by providing information and education resources, location-based healthcare services connection, telemedicine consultations, appointment scheduling and a social platform for community support and shared experiences.
Riara university students, EJ Smartfarm 254 by Elijah Cheruiyot and the Grey Water Blue project by Carol Emannuela and Allan Obat took positions five and six consecutively and together will all be travelling to Germany to exchange knowledge with leading resasearchers oin different fields and see their innovations boosted by funding accrued to them by HEI innovation at Co-creation Hub.
In attendance was Prof. Stephen Kiama, Vice Chancellor (University of Nairobi), Prof. Mary Kinoti, University of Nairobi Director, Intellectual Property Management.
Prof. Kiama graced the event with a riveting speech alluding to the importance of nurturing, incubating and funding student led innovations at the university level as the sustainability of the future is dependent on innovation and technology advancements. Prof. Kiama assured I HUB that the University is ready to collaborate with them to harness the abundant talent in the university to solve Africa’s problems. He observed that the youth bulge in Africa is both a curse and blessings. The youth should be empowered to address Africa’s problems through innovations.
Vice Chancellor of Riara University Prof. Peter Gateru was emphatic that “Universities should be a place where students create things and not learn things. What amazes me is how innovative students are. There is a whole well of potential that perhaps we are not tapping in well. The key question for us in academia then is how do we convert education to be about student outcomes that change or transform the society?” Prof. Gateru further challenged education institutions and stakeholders to support students and nurture innovations.
