Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
(Group Photo)
Graduation
INNO- PAD
Page -2 (1 photo on this page)
OUR MISSION
The mission of the Centre for Innovation and Industrial Research (CIIR) is to accelerate
transformative industrialisation in Malawi through human-centred and demand-driven
industrial research, innovation, technology development and commercialisation.
OUR VISION
…toTo become a modern and dynamic academy of excellence recognised for Commented [JT1]: Optional to maintain the dots or delete
them and capitalize the t
championing Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for transformative
Commented [JT2R1]: Vice versa, vision starts before the
industrialisation in Malawi.’ mission
GOAL
The strategic goal for the Centre is to advance science, technology and innovation (STI
(CIIR) in line with its Vision, Mission, Malawi Growth and Development Strategy Commented [JT6]: Insert comma,
III(MGDSIII 2017-2023III, African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the 2015 United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Currently, CIIR It is housed under the
Directorate of Research, Postgraduate Studies and Outreach.
The Centre for Innovation and Industrial Research is moulded on the understanding
that advancing development for the individual, the community and the nation requires
the systematic investment in innovation and innovativeness from the vast resources
bank within MUST and beyond MUST’s borders. As such, the CIIR takes a keen interest
in seeking, developing and advancing innovative ideas through relevant industrial
research.
CONTACT
Centre for Innovation and Industrial Research
Malawi University of Science and Technology
PO Box 5196, Limbe, Malawi
Phone: 265 1 478 000
Email: ciir@must.ac.mw
Facebook,
Twitter,
Website
The Centre for Innovation and Industrial Centre (CIIR) represents a major shift in the
way our University will address science, technology, innovation, research, teaching and
entrepreneurship. Since its inception a few years ago, the University has not had a
deliberate framework that allowed a deliberate centre of excellence to champion Commented [JT7]: Repeated word
innovation management.
As a University, through our Schools, Centres, institutes, and the students’ community,
we have been generating innovative ideas that, with proper frameworks, could be a
source of economic transformation whilst providing solutions to many various
challenges facing Malawithat the country is facing. However, we had nothave not
properly harnessed these innovations to contribute to several pillars in our MUST
Sstrategic Pplan. The CIIR presents one of the platforms that we will use to nurture and
manage innovations. My office has already established the Innovation Award to
provide the required incentives for both fFaculty and students innovators. I am pleased
that Smile Insurance and Mahogany Insurance Brokers have already approved financial
support to the Award.
I call on all MUST family members and our development partners to reignite their
ambitions and actions through the Centre as we collectively deal with the increasing
youth unemployment, environmental degradation, food insecurity, and extreme
weather events thereby affecting the attainment of both the Malawi Growth and
Development Strategy (MGDS III) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a
university, we are committed to forge partnerships that will alleviate the sufferings of
many Malawians, especially those in rural areas. The Centre is a hub to allow us think
differently and support the aspiration of Malawi leadership to a better country.
The MUST CIIR will contribute to realisation of our Vision: ‘A world class centre of
science and technology education, research and entrepreneurship’ and it is with this
vision that I endorse the Centre as an instrument of change.
It is very clear that CIIRthat CIIR is also contributing to all pillars in our strategic plan
(2017-2022) including Pillar 1: Quality Education; Pillar 2: Research and Valorisation;
Pillar 3: Enabling Environment, and Pillar 4: External Engagement.
The CIIR recognizes that building human capacity depends on an enabling environment
that propels science, technology and innovation. Sustaining such growth requires
effective institutional response systems through coordinated investments in human
capital. The CIIR lays the foundation for our members of staff, students and our partners
to advance the university’s vision through the innovation that will be the core pathway
for mentorship in the programme.
I champion and stand behind this Centre, and expect to witness real change. The Centre
is also contributing to my own vision of establishing the Industrial Park which we have
already started initiatives with support from the Government of Malawi
I therefore call on the faculty, students, administrators and our esteemed partners to
put in all the required attention by acting to work together to achieve the vision of
MUST and that of Malawi through the CIIR.
Welcome to the Centre for Innovation and industrial Research. The First MUST
Graduation Day, is the best gift for us as we would like to share and conceptualise the
partnership model into the innovation world. Our Centre believes that innovations are
born and innovation generations are sustained through transformative partnership. We
encourage you to visit our pavilion under the Malawi Institute for Technology. We are
ready to host you in the MUST Idea Bank (MUST I-Bank) were you are welcome to
save your first innovation idea and get a Certificate.
Our Centre has been designed to act as service centre for all stakeholders in order to
address the pressing needs facing our society. In the centre, we believe that the idea is
the first step to changing our world and creating the environment we want. As such,
this Graduation Launch Pad is a direct invitation to you and other interested partners
to join the Innovation Team here at MUST.
The Centre has been reorganised to make sure that no one is seating in the comfort
zone, we will be challenging innovators to think outside the box, process information
into knowledge so that Malawi become a knowledgeable nation that will use
innovation for sustainable development. Whilst studies have shown that current
programmes are training students whose jobs will not be available in future, we at the
Centre we will work with MUST Schools to make sure that wethat we produce
graduates and support partners to create jobs for the future job market.
We are very existed that local partners (See Partner dash Board) have already started
working with us and we have had strategic meetings with more innovative industries.
We are pleased and delighted that key Ministries including Ministry of Agriculture,
Irrigation and Water Development, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism have
already accepted our new programming and we will make ensure that the Centre is a
key player in achieved ministerial strategic goals as well as the Malawi Growth and
Development Strategy III. The Centre has also designed a Community Innovation
Support programme which is directly linked to Economic Zones championed by the
National Planning Commission. Through the Junior Talent and Innovation Programme
we would like to reach out to secondary schools’ innovators and start nurturing and
managing their innovations for commercialisation.
I am delighted to report that we have already received funding from USAID, The
Foundation for Smoke Free and UNICEF to support our flagship programme including
the Africa Drone and Data Academy, MUST Innovation Scholar Programme and the
MUST Capacity Building Programme under the Centre for Agriculture Transformation.
Finally, on behalf of the MUST Innovation team, let me take this opportunity to
acknowledge the support and encouragement we are getting from the Office of the
Vice Chancellor, University Registrar, Executive Management, Faculty and students.
FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES
The Innovative Growth Industries has been designed to develop and operationalize
industrial innovation ecosystem in Malawi. The broad objective of the programme is
to contribute to increased competitiveness and innovative capacity of the industrial
sector in the country. Thus, by promoting all forms of innovation, the proposed
programme will support and strengthen innovative ability and competitiveness of the
industry community as a whole. The programme also intends to encourage companies
to invest in research and development (R&D) that can enhance competitiveness,
increasing growth opportunities and promote sustainable value creation. The
programme will create and promote a culture of innovation in applied R&D and
engineering and develop an innovation framework and mechanism for idea generation.
It will further be strengthening the joint monitoring, measuring and sustain innovations
for economic growth.
Photo: Drone
The ADDA which will initially start with short training courses that will equip Malawian
and international students with the necessary skills to command the usage of drones for
different applications including assessing agricultural productivity and establishing
malaria hotspots. In addition to this, the initiative aims to work with the university that
trains future drone operators for various development needs across the country. In
phase one, the ADDA will aim to develop a masters’ degree in drone innovation,
operations and information science (MDIOIS).
Page-6 & 7
FACULTY INNOVATION
University Technology and Innovation Garage (UTIG)
By Robert Mkandawire
Senior Research Fellow, CIIR
Under the umbrella of the MUST Innovation Programme, Robert has conceptualized
the University Technology and Innovation Garage (UTIG) that will function as a service
center to support MUST innovators and partners. The immediate objectives will be to
focus on developing capacity to support innovators at their earlier stages of innovation
development. The key components of the Garage are: Ideation Space, Coaching and
mentorship, ..
Re-inventing Malawian Folktales through Animated Stories on Climate Change
By Atikonda Mtenje-Mkochi, PhD
Head of Department, Language and Communication, MUST
The project is trying to address issues on climate change through folktales to address
community challenges while at the same time sustaining and reviving story telling
culture among Malawians. This will be through cartoons, comics and possibly video
games. The innovation will create a folk tale information management system to
collect information from literature, elders and story collectors. This information will be
processed through the Folktale-Climate Change Studio (FCCS) to weave a climate
change lesson into an appropriate Malawian folktale. The FCCS will comprise of climate
change experts, literature and performance scholars, education experts and animators.
It is expected that the innovation will contribute to environment edutainment.
The Sshare the care model innovation aims is to develop a model that shall will be used Commented [JT10]: Use will if definite or maintain shall if
unsure
to help address challenges that women caregivers of children living with HIV and AIDS
and any child living with a chronic illness other than HIV and AIDS in a rural setting.
The simple principle for this project is to share the care so that women caregivers learn
lessons from each other on how to improve the care of their wards. Concepts to be
considered are but not limited to: 1). setting the boundary with sub-concepts such as
terrain, culture, gender, financial status, 2). Care with sub-concepts such as
informational care and physical care, 3). Income generating activities with sub-concepts
such as Agriculture, Banking, and business and 4). Professional support with sub-
concepts based on the profession such as health, education, justice, agriculture and trade
and industry.
E-commerce Platform for Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in
Malawi
BY Charles Fodya, PhD
Head of Department XXXXInformation, Communication, Technology Department
The scholar has developed an E-e commerce platform that will be used to promote
products and services for the SMEs. The framework will facilitate mapping and profile
products and services offered by the MSMEs. Then it will conceptualize the product
delivery systems building on existing structures such as Post Offices. It will then construct
payment system that will be linked to Malawi Revenue System, existing mobile
payments and other mechanisms. In addition, the framework will put in place
mechanism to ensure quality of the products and linkage to the buyers.
University-Industry Engagement Model (UIE-Model)
By Jennifer Manda Chimwanza, MSc
Position: Lecturer in Thermodynamics
The proposed innovation aims to operationalize Work Integrated Learning Policy and
expand its impact on MUST by creating a program where faculty members learn and
interface with industry partners through Faculty-Industry Placements (FIPs). The project
will create the FIP model where faculty are embedded within key industry players so
that they can better understand the skills/education industry requires in their
employees. It will further allow the faculty to understand the industry landscape and
be able to identify changes that can be included in teaching and learning for WIL
improvement.
Through the FIP model, faculty will be placed with an industry partner that uses the
topics which the faculty members facilitate. Faculty will be expected to produce an FIP
report (FIPR) at the end of their FIP experience that recommends changes to the
curriculum based on their attachment experience. FIP reports will identify gaps between
industry needs and existing coursework to develop new and more relevant
curriculum. The university will use the FIPRs as inputs into their university wide
curriculum review process.
Afrineur will develop a special crowdfunding site for MUST. Via this site, the public in
Malawi and beyond will be able to provide financial support for MUST
Innovations. As MUST creates its University Technology and Innovation Garage and
has either faculty or student created innovations that are ready
for commercialization, Afrineur will become the “window” that will facilitate the
promotion of the innovations and serve as the financial processing platform.
Page 8&9
GRADUATE INNOVATIONS
Zero plastic wastes through diesel production Plastic Diesel
By Catherine T. Chaima
BSc
The overall objective of this innovation is to produce diesel from waste plastic papers
through reverse engineering mechanism. The proposed innovation will involve
designing a simple and energy efficient reactor that will contain waste plastics with the
aid of a locally made catalyst (loam soil) to optimize diesel production from waste
plastics.
The overall objective is to modify the existing duster to remove stains on white boards
and conditioning the surface of the board for improved teaching and learning. The
duster will have a closed tank that contains a cleaning fluid. The main component will
be the diaphragm that will have a series of connected pipes to facilitate flow of fluid
within the duster. A cell soft foam with waffle-like surface will be fabricated from a
soft material. The duster will have press button to move fluid from the tank to the
surface layer with a a nobble for refilling fluid into the tank.
PreserveX
By Dominic Sandram
BSc
The innovation aims to preserve agricultural commodities by keeping them fresh for
longer. It exploits the concept of controlled microenvironments and solar energy to
achieve preservation. An airtight collapsible tent will be used as a containment for
commodities and an evaporator will be used to produce optimum humidity levels.
Other components include a portable solar panel and baskets.
A filter made from the locally found clay soil will be designed to allow water molecules
to pass through the filter. To further purify the water especially removing/killing
bacteria, the innovation will use innovative approaches to soften the water, thereby
removing chemicals and preventing the growth of algae. Activated carbon, ion
exchange raisin and colloidal silver will be incorporated into the filter. This filter will
convert the unsafe water that people in rural areas normally drink to portable water
and help prevent waterborne diseases associated with drinking contaminated and
untreated water.
This innovation will develop a process to facilitate short time production of white flour
with an option of fortification at low cost. This will be achieved by developing small-
scale model for processing vessel with boiler producing saturated steam and dryer with
higher oven temperature. Locally available fortificants comprising of available food
sources will be incorporated. This mixer will be introduced to the process in the hammer
mill as a means of fortification. The process innovation of white flour production will
eliminate soaking and sun-drying of the maize grits and flour respectively.
This innovation will incorporate the use of Parabolic Solar Concentrator and
environmentally friendly biogas-technology in Malawi into the production of electricity
to boost up energy generation capacity. The Parabolic Solar Concentrator will
concentrate the sun’s radiation on the receiver of thermal heat. It will accumulate
maximum solar radiation using the sun tracking system made up of automatic Jacks.
The innovation aims at reducing fetal and neonatal deaths by detecting and recording
fetal heart beat sounds during pregnancy, labour and delivery by using piezoelectric
microphone. The detected sounds will be directed to the operational amplifier. The
pre-amplified signals will be filtered using a low pass filter then later be processed by a
software installed on arduino to calculate the fetal heart rate. This innovation will save
lives of many fetus and Neonates in Malawi and other developing countries.
This innovation consists of a smart monitoring machine with minimum complexity for
easy end user usage. In principle, vital signs and body conditions will be recorded using
instruments on the device. Data stored on the device will be accessed in real time using
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection to the design. Data will be used for diagnosis and early
identification of a respiratory problem. It will also be used as a medicating device for
children in need of oxygen supplement. Malawi and other countries in sub-Saharan
Africa will be able to save the lives of infants
INNOVATION TEAM
David Mkwambisi
David is the Director of the Centre and holds PhD and MSc in Environment and
Development from Universities of Leeds and East Anglia in UK respectively. He is an
Associate Professor of Environment and Development and an active researcher in the
development discourse working with national and international organisations including
World Bank, Africa development Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, Government of Malawi,
COMESA, NEPAD, GIZ, USAID, DFID, UNFPA, IDRC and several internationally
recognised centres of excellence and Higher Education Institutions.
Mr Robert Mkandawire
Ms Tamara Nyirenda
Ms Omega Mitinda
Kingsley Robert Kalonda
Dr John Taulo
John is a Lecturer in Energy Scienes and holds PhD and MSc in Mechanical Engineering
from Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Dr Taulo has initiated and
implemented a number of development projects in energy in rural communities in
Malawi. He has been the Principal Investigator in a number of research projects in
biomass, bioenergy and solar photovoltaic community projects. In addition, Dr Taulo
is experienced in capacity building at all levels of society spanning from his work and
involvement in civil society organisations working with both rural and peri urban
communities. At MUST, Dr Taulo has been responsible for providing leadership,
direction and control of activities of the research and development section through
supervision of personnel and projects. He has also been responsible for identifying
potential areas of collaboration, working with Research Fellows and senior colleagues
across departments and faculties to manage the process of bringing together for
collaborative grant opportunities. As a lecturer, the main purpose of his job is to teach,
carry out research, consultancy and outreach activities, publish and provide
guidance/mentorship to junior faculty and students. Dr Taulo lectures solar thermal
energy, hydropower, wind energy, bioenergy and engineering design. He also
supervises undergraduate and postgraduate student’s research projects, both at
University of Malawi and Malawi University of Science and Technology. Dr Taulo is
reviewer for several international peer-reviewed journals.