The Next Step For African Universities, Reflection From Innovation Promotion Program at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology.
By: Jumanne Rajabu Mtambalike
Tags: University, Technology Transfer, Entrepreneurship, Africa, Innovation

The Changing Role of Universities

Universities are some of the oldest and most conservatives institutions in the world. Started as the center of knowledge shared by a person called Master. The priority focus of a university was to offer education until that role evolved and research started to be included as part of the core objective, and the role of a Master moved to a Lecturer. Not until recently, universities started to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship as part of their core objectives while encouraging lecturers to be more open-minded to explore new knowledge and experiences since knowledge is no longer centered around a single person or institution but rather scattered everywhere.

The birth of third-generation universities sees the role of an academic lecturer moving from a lecturer to a Coach. Someone who pushes students to think critically, collaboratively, and creatively and to communicate well (the 4Cs) on issues affecting the society while offering solutions through new innovative ideas and entrepreneurial approaches. The changing role of universities has been influenced by a number of reasons including; The rise of academic entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary research, globalization, the fourth industrial revolution and related technologies, Government demands and output financing, technology-based economic growth in the knowledge-based economy, corporate research and the opportunities offered by collaboration with industry.

Even though academic institutions across the world have been evolving to embrace these changes institutions in Africa still lags behind operating in the old traditional model. Few universities are trying to catch-up but most of them struggle to find practical ways to adapt to these changes in our own local context and relevancy. The key question remains, what are the best approaches to transform an African university to meet these changing local, regional, and global dynamics? The increase of the youth population, the formation of new jobs that require new skills and talents, existing and emerging global crises such as COVID19 and Climate Change, and socio-economic pressure will push African universities to their limits.

Towards The Fourth Generation Universities

Towards Realizing 3GU in Africa Academic Institutions

Our first session at NMAIST reflected on the realization of the third generation universities in Africa. We reflected on what works and what doesn’t. While NM-AIST is among the few open-minded academic institutions in Africa which embrace different innovation and industry linkage interventions there was something that needs to be done to move the institution to a full-fledge 3GU. This is also true to many of the African institutions, more needs to be done to encourage university-industry collaboration, university-community collaboration, academic entrepreneurship, technology transfer, and research commercialization. NM-AIST is taking the right direction in establishing programs that will encourage further collaboration between the university — the industry — and the community. From the session, the feeling was more needs to be done to empower people (staff and management) to attain skills and experience that can further accelerate that. There is a need to encourage a change of strategies (process) and attitudes (people) if we are to realize the 3GU in Africa effectively.

Design For Good, University Solving Problems

How can we get the students to understand the process of solving problems and coming up with great ideas? That was a key question that shaped our second session with NM-AIST. While there is some energy and drive from students and staff to come up with ideas, researches, and projects but the gap between them and the actual needs is very wide. Students struggle to come up with solutions rather they replicate existing projects and researches just to get academic qualifications.

For our universities in Africa to stay relevant with our communities they need to address real problems hence design thinking. Using tools such as Ideo Human-Centered Design and Principles for Digital Development. Ideas and solutions that emerged from these tools are shaped to address real needs by taking into consideration most of the important factors in identifying and solving a problem. For students and staff to come up with ideas that are desirable, feasible, and viable there is a need to do rapid testing and engagement with the users (industry or community) hence the need for the lean-approach. During our session at NMAIST, the tools were adopted and piloted to see how they can be used in real life to assess the relevance of the solutions.

The biggest achievement of our universities in Africa will be the capability them addressing grassroots problems facing our hyperlocal communities. Offering solutions to some of the most complex issues facing our society today. Most importantly through design thinking, the created solutions should be reliable, affordable, and sustainable. One of the tools we adopted for this session was Gianmarco Marinello’s Social Innovation Framework. Trying to understand problems at the grassroots level and link them to practical solutions.

Gianmarco Marinello’s Social Innovation Framework

Academic Entrepreneurship

Academic entrepreneurship is not a new concept. Universities have been embracing in-campus entrepreneurship in different ways including; hosting incubators, starting and supporting spin-offs, conducting summer programs (accelerators), establishing entrepreneurship centers, etc. Some universities have been extremely successful in this and they have been attributed to the success of some of the large companies emerging in their ecosystems. Universities such as Stanford University, Aalto University, Tsinghua University, and others seem to be at the core of both academic and entrepreneurial excellence in their ecosystems.

The key question during our third session was how can we foster academic entrepreneurship in African universities? What is the best approach that can work in our context using readily available resources? Are in-campus incubators and entrepreneurship centers the solution? if yes, how do we measure their success? If no, what are other approaches that can be adopted? We looked at the concept of Spin-Offs and what needs to be done to have successful Spin-Offs emerging from the university. We looked at three key issues; governance, process, and context.

Nurturing Successful Spin-Offs

Incubators Versus Accelerators, what works for African universities? There was a discussion during the session at NMAIST whether short-term programs 6 months max or long-term support programs up to 3 years are more practical to support academic entrepreneurs in Africa. We never reached a conclusion but we collectively agreed both are needed depending on the circumstances. What was very is the fact that people should be allowed to fail (or succeed) fast so that more people will have the chance to explore and test their ideas and projects. Also, the need to have a competitive program, structured support, a stronger ecosystem, and a clear exit for businesses supported in academic setup.

Student as an Entrepreneur

To coach an entrepreneur, you need smart entrepreneurial tools. At NM-AIST we explored Lean Canvas and Business Model Canvas as tools to help students shape their ideas into something commercially viable. The staff as coaches they learned to use the tools to assess the viability of the ideas and the value proposition certain solutions will have to the potential users or customers. The exercise was very useful especially for staff without a business background. Business Model Canvas is a great tool for quick observation of the viability of an idea as well as in giving practical feedback to an innovator or entrepreneur from the business perspective.

University at The Core of The Ecosystem

The last session was about the innovation ecosystem and how can we get African universities to be at the core of the ecosystem. Currently, innovation hubs and labs are the ones looking to spearhead the innovation ecosystem in Africa. Acting as conveners working with different parts of the ecosystem; investors, entrepreneurs (innovators), academic institutions (and research firms), governments, etc. Can this role be played by the university? Universities in matured ecosystems drive the innovation agenda and coordinate strategic partnerships and collaborations between different players in the ecosystem.

From the session, at NMAIST we looked at the role of Nelson Mandela as an Institution in building a stronger innovation ecosystem in Arusha by looking at different players and their roles and on how strategic collaborations can be formed with them through the institution.

This is the beginning of a new era for African universities. We remain optimistic about the future.

Appreciation

The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

The CENIT@EA Team.

This report has been prepared by