Dr. Victor Konde visit's Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, the host of the Origin Physical Hub of East Africa and the Semiconductors Tecnologies Ltd
Dr. Victor Konde from UNECA, Prof. Esther Magiri, DVC, and Prof. Paul Kioni former VC of DeKUT
August 23, 2023
Africa is making significant technological advancement and innovation strides to develop sustainable and impactful solutions to our societal problems.The future looks promising for Africa's journey toward becoming a global technological powerhouse.
As a University, we are dedicated to providing an all-inclusive supporting infrastructure to assist businesses set up, innovate and grow. To support this aspiration, a National Science and Technology Park (STP) was established as an engine for innovation, incubation, development and commercialization of technology. It creates opportunities to commercialize Agro-tech, ICT, and industrial manufacturing research outputs through technology transfer from the rich human resource at the University.
Mr Karanja demonstrating the working of machine to Dr. Konde and Prof. Kioni
On this premise, the Origin Lab is being established at the University by the United Nations Economics for Africa (UNECA). In August 2023, Dr. Victor Konde (Scientific Affairs Officer) UNECA visited DeKUT. Hosted by the former Vice Chancellor DeKUT, Prof. Eng. Ndirangu Kioni, DeST-Park Client Semiconductor Technologies Limited (STL) Managing Director, Dr. Anthony Githinji, Ph.D. Eng. among other stakeholders, he discussed a few areas of collaboration, such as partnerships in the diaspora, scalability in science and technology, fellowships and capacity building between STL and DeKUT.
The University has set up specialized research centres addressing particular needs as they are sources of innovation with a clear technology support structure for intellectual property protection. Some of the centres are the Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAIL), where DeKUT is keen to leverage Data Science and Artificial Intelligence to solve local problems and capacity building; Centre for Development of Electronic Devices (CDED), which provides a platform where the University collaborates with the society to innovate electronic devices that can solve the various problems identified in the community, by creating linkages with clients and likeminded stakeholders and developing electronic devices in collaboration with relevant industries or companies.
He also visited the Software Development Centre, where they develop and customize software for the University and external customers. The centre aims to modernize and automate the University processes. One application software that the centre has created so far is the Workload Manager Application (Workman), which is used to manage workload within the University and aids in assisting teaching staff members in planning and managing their duties. Dr Konde commended the excellent work the centre is doing and was shown the Alliance of Entrepreneurial Universities in Africa and the Origin Research and Innovation Lab websites.
