Final gathering, and graduation, for the BIC participants
In mid-May 2025, the final part of the training programme Building Innovation Capabilities was taking place at Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya.
In this finale of the training programme, the Kenyan and Tanzanian participants in the programme got to present the internal change project they have been working on in their respective organisations. The aim of the training programme was to enhance the capacity of participating public sector organisations to adopt more innovative approaches in addressing the societal challenges they face. This led many of the organisations to create innovation policies for their organisations, since this was lacking.
The organisations also learnt about how they can collaborate with academia and students at the universities to find innovative solutions for challenges they are dealing with in their organisations. Many of the organisations would like to collaborate with the universities through challenge-driven courses where they will let students work on a challenge they have identified.
Highlighted collaboration between different sectors
The gathering ended with a graduation ceremony where speaker Dr. Esther Khakata, Director for Research and Postgraduate Studies and full-time Lecturer at the School of Computing and Engineering Sciences at Strathmore University, among other things highlighted the importance of collaboration between different sectors (such as public sector organisations and the academia), as well as being open-minded and innovative when addressing challenges. At the graduation ceremony, the participants received a diploma showing they had successfully participated in this training.
Professor Bernard Shibwabo, Strathmore University, was the host for this last training module:
“We had a successful last training session at our university, where the participants got to put all the theory into practice and present their internal change projects. Throughout the training programme, they have received information and gained knowledge about innovation in low- and middle-income countries, the concept of Challenge Driven Education (CDE), and the role of external stakeholders in CDE courses, among other things. This last part was a chance for them to show what they have learnt and present their thoughts on how they can continue with this work after the training.”
"Training has led to a more innovative mindset"
Researcher Susanne Nilsson, KTH:
“Having the fourth module of the training programme at the beautiful Strathmore University campus was a great way to end this training. Besides the training activities, the participants also got to visit the Kenya Climate Innovation Center located at the Strathmore University campus, to hear more about how they are funding climate innovations. This is an example of how another organisation work with innovations towards a more sustainable future.”
Lecturer Eva Shayo, UDSM:
“It was fun to meet everyone again and to follow the work of the participants. To me, it is clear that the training has not only led to the formalisation of an innovative work procedure at the organisations involved, but also to a more innovative mindset among the participating individuals. The participants are now more confident in knowing that challenges may be solved in many different ways, and that it is possible and worthwhile to try to find more innovative ways of working.”
