The African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed Incubation Centre of Excellence has opened its doors at the Pan African University Institute for Basic Sciences Technology and Innovation (PAUSTI), seeking to promote and drive innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and private sector linkages.
PAUSTI is a postgraduate hub of research and innovation, offering four masters and PhD programmes, which is hosted at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya.
Financed by the AfDB, fthe PAUSTI Centre of Excellence (PAUSTI CoE) is a state-of-the-art centre and innovation hub that seeks to promote and drive innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and private sector linkages. It also seeks to accelerate the application of research and development, through technology and linkages with the private sector, to drive innovation and entrepreneurship on the continent.
The AfDB-funded Incubation Centre was set up in June 2021, and over the last seven months has supported innovators by conducting capacity-building sessions, providing business training and funding them with up to US$5,000. Twelve innovations were recently showcased to expose and link them to stakeholders that will be key in advancing their growth, either through funding or career opportunities.
AfDB division manager for education and skills development Hendrina Chalwe Dorobo lauded the innovators for building on their ideas and producing a working prototype ready for commercialisation. She said strong partnerships such as the one witnessed in running the Incubation Centre are vital in ensuring relevance and sustainability of the solutions being churned out by researchers 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.
