Makerere University Partners with UNDP on Innovation, Development and Gender Equality – Campus Bee
The duo will join efforts to achieve development, innovation, resilience and gender equality in public institutions.
The partnership signed on September 20, 2022 will focus on five areas; fostering innovation ecosystems, leveraging the role of universities in grassroot development, establishing a regular innovation expo, promoting research & resilience and strengthening gender equality in public institutions.
As part of the partnership terms, UNDP, through the Regional Bureau for Africa’s initiative will support Makerere University in establishing a Model Innovation Hub.
The Innovation Pod will provide university students with Maker-Spaces , standard set of equipment, a Design Lab, collaborative Working Spaces and a Technology Transfer Office to facilitate the transition from research and prototypes to the market.
Ms Elsie Attafuah, the resident representative UNDP-Uganda is optimistic that the initiative will increase startups from students as well as financial autonomy for Makerere University.
“Through this initiative, we expect to see a robust pipeline of startups from university student innovators, we expect to see realignments of university objectives and student education with market needs, we expect to see increased financial autonomy for Makerere University resulting from monetizing intellectual property from student innovation, and we also want to see increased resources for research, and the evolution of a university curriculum to suit employer needs,” she remarked.
Attafuah added that UNDP will support Policy Labs at Makerere University to design the National Roadmap for implementation of the Parish Development Model.
Speaking at the launch of the partnership, Prof. Ezra Suruma, the chancellor Makerere University said all Ugandans deserve basic needs of life thus need to fight poverty.
“Poverty is a reality we should deal with to provide needs of our people. All the people of Uganda deserve to enjoy the minimum basic needs of life. Every citizen of Uganda should live a decent life,” Prof Suruma said.
The UNDP initiative is seeking to transform public universities across Africa into spaces for innovation, experimentation, and accelerated learning.
The partnership is based on an intent of repositioning Makerere University as atransformative space of innovation, experimentation and accelerated learning instilled with the market-ready knowledge systems and technology infrastructure that matches the demands of the current and fast evolving digital economy.