Institutions break new ground in technological innovations
HARARE Institute of Technology (HIT) has commercialised several innovations, as its Education 5.0 policy starts paying dividends.
The institute, which is earning over $25 million monthly from the technologies, has been inventing practical solutions for a broad spectrum of economic and social sectors in Zimbabwe.
Out of HIT’s 18 innovations, nine have made it to industry, including the tapcard adopted by CBZ and NMB banks, and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s bureau de change transaction system, which monitors foreign currency allocations countrywide.
There also is the Local Authority Database System (LADS), which monitors rent and rate payments at local authorities, as well as a universal payment system called Unipay, among others.
A vehicle tracking solution used to monitor over 3 000 individual vehicles by about 20 company vehicles was also introduced.
In addition, HIT has commercialised the Sahara fuel management system, which monitors fuel levels at service stations electronically at the same time highlighting anomalies whenever the fuel is contaminated.
This solution has been adopted by close to 50 clients in Harare, including Trek’s service stations, while another major petroleum trader, Zuva, adopted it at 20 of its service stations.
A transformer manufacturing plant, which produces for households and industry, was also successfully established in Chitungwiza.
Another notable innovation includes developing an electronic healthcare records system for the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
The idea behind heritage-based education is to promote innovations that drive industrialisation, starting from colleges and universities.
The Government believes the strategy will speed up the country’s industrial development through developing skilled manpower. HIT has since introduced a startup policy that entitles the student and the staff to own about 60,1 percent of the technology they come up if commercialised.
The other 30 percent would be assumed by investors, industry or anyone with keen interest in the technology, while the balance will remain under the university.
Addressing delegates at the National Competitiveness Commission (NCC) seminar held in Harare recently, HIT pro-vice chancellor responsible for research, innovation and commercialisation, Engineer Talon Garikayi, said local tertiary institutions were incubating ideas that could be commercialised.
“I can safely say our commercialisation
success rate is now at 50 percent. Commercialisation is known not to exceed 20 percent globally. Sometimes we do license out; instead of formulating a company, we simply receive royalties by giving the product to companies.
“In terms of the figure, RBZ pays US$100 per each bureau de change per month, so we expect about US$60 000 per month from them.
“In terms of payment gateways, we are making close to $25 million which we are receiving per month as a university,” said
Engineer Garikayi.
Tapcard, a payment solution used by Zupco, is one of the most popular innovations by the institution.
It was designed at a time the country was facing cash challenges.
“At HIT when we heard about cash challenges, we said how do we alleviate this challenge. The community wanted to use Zupco, and people needed to have cash, and cash was very difficult to find.
“We developed the tapcard and the tap-and-go system. To date, the system is
moving about $6,5 billion quarterly, which should have been cash,” said Eng Garikayi.
He, however, bemoaned the lack of responsiveness to start-ups by the local business fraternity and Government departments alike, which he said had sometimes led to the adoption of some local inventions by foreign countries.
“I think some of you heard that HIT invented a ventilator and it disappeared just like that.
The ventilator was made, tested on animals, tested on human beings and SAZ
said they had no standard and none of the Zimbabwean companies funded the ventilators in Zimbabwe until SADC offered the funding and we now have a standard at Capetown University, and we are now operating at Capetown University because no one supported us here,” he said.
There have also been notable success stories at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT), which has established a state-of-the art dairy milking parlour.
The Midlands State University (MSU)’s industrial park now manufactures tar for
local roads, while Verify Engineering is producing 50 tonnes of medical oxygen per day against local monthly demand of 150 tonnes per month.
Further, the National Biotechnology Authority established a Marula processing plant in Mwenezi.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira said local universities and colleges had to date registered at least 500 patents or designs.
“Heritage-based Education 5.0 policy is a constitutional dictate that our institutions of higher learning are responding to. It fosters agricultural, commercial, industrial, technological development and commercialisation of industry and commercial enterprises in order to empower Zimbabwean citizens,” said Prof Murwira.
“Section 13 of the Constitution says the State and all institutions and agents of Government at every level must endeavour to facilitate rapid and equitable development and in particular must take measures to promote private initiatives that ensure self-reliance, thus bringing about balanced development of different areas of Zimbabwe, in particular rural and urban Zimbabwe.”
Zimbabwe, he added, had managed to curb Covid-19 owing to interventions by local institutions that explored ways to manufacture sanitisers and some of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) being used in the country.
The National Development Strategy1 (NDS1) , under the innovation for industrialisation cluster, endeavours to capacitate national strategic institutions such as centres for education and enhancement of capacity building in critical skills areas across all sectors.
The objective is to ensure that resources earmarked for research, development and innovation are available to operationalise innovation hubs and industrial parks in institutions of higher learning.
As such, the Government is in the process of re-configuring the higher and tertiary education system from the tripartite education system of teaching, research, and community service (Education 3.0).
The system produces only literate job-seeking graduates.
The modification entails innovation and industrialisation, which produces entrepreneurs, quality goods and services (Education 5.0).
The intention is to produce graduates with skills that empower them to become innovative towards societal development through transformative science and technology knowledge application that delivers goods and services to bridge the gap between knowledge produced in lecture rooms, laboratory and industry production in the process.