Source: scidev
Kenya has embraced the University Research Chairs (URC) programme, a model which has already been adopted by countries such as Canada and South Africa.
Under the URC programme, the government of Kenya’s National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) is partnering with Canada’s International Development and Research Centre (IDRC) to fund research programmes.
“We have identified seven priority areas which will be rolled out in the coming ten years, starting this year with health systems and biotechnology research.”Jasper Rugut, Kenya, National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI)
“We have identified seven priority areas which will be rolled out in the coming ten years, starting this year with health systems and biotechnology research,” said Jasper Rugut, NACOSTI CEO, at the launch of the programme in Kenya last month (31 March).
To support the URC programme in the two thematic areas of research, NACOSTI and IDRC are each contributing US$1 million for a period of five years. Moi University has been appointed to lead research on health systems.
Unlike in other forms of research, URC mainly focuses on innovation and production of new technologies, with an emphasis on uptake to solve pressing social-economic problems by closely involving government and industry actors, according to Rugut. It also seeks to strengthen the role of universities in public innovation systems.