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Africa University focuses on innovation

14 Jun, 2019 - 00:06 0 Views
Africa University focuses on innovation Prof Furusa

The ManicaPost

Senior Reporter
AFRICA University,  which saw a total of 526 students conferred with various academic degrees last Saturday after completing their studies at its campus just outside Mutare, is intensifying the establishment of Innovation Hubs as its contribution to Government economic turnaround efforts.

Innovation Hubs, known by a variety of terms around the world, are a new and exciting model for supporting entrepreneurs and driving innovation in global economies more so those in Africa that are in dire need of new ideas and industrial processes that add value to raw materials and create new ones for the market.

These hubs are built on the community and bring together a heterogeneous collection of minds driven by entrepreneurship. The more diverse the community, the greater the possibilities for creativity as different skills sets and levels of expertise are brought to the table.

In his speech during the graduation ceremony, the 25th for the university, Africa University Vice Chancellor Professor Munashe Furusa stressed the university’s commitment to establishment of Innovation Hubs.

Professor Furusa applauded students for overcoming hardships throughout their courses up to Saturday’s graduation ceremony.

“We really want to applaud the graduating students for their resilience in overcoming challenges until this day. We want to thank parents, guardians and spouses for supporting the group that is graduating throughout their studies.

“In the past year we have made several achievements as the university aims at to establish a world class university. We prioritise high impact teaching and learning and also invested heavily in leveraging on technology in the advent of ICTs in today’s world. It is against this background that the university has continued with efforts to establish and maintain Innovation Hubs,” he said.

Established in September 2017, the i5 Hub is a response to the needs of thousands of enterprising African graduates and young people who are in need of a space that will allow them the opportunity to bring their most innovative, creative and best ideas to be refined, incubated and transformed into business enterprises.

The first of its kind in Zimbabwe and equipped with the latest technological support, the i5hub is geared towards solving a wide range of the country and the continent’s most challenging problems.

What is unique about this hub is that it is open to any members of the community as the University believes that innovation can come from anywhere and is driven towards promoting innovation from indigenous knowledge systems whose key players may have not walked through the doors of a university.

Of the 526 graduands, 54.6 percent are women with fair share from beyond the country’s borders.

Minister of State for Manicaland Affairs Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba, local traditional leaders and several academics from other universities graced the graduation ceremony.

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