Malawi University of Science and Technology-MUST has launched the Innovation Scholar Program-ISP that will see scholars engaging in research that has an impact on the lives of people in the country.
Speaking at the launch of the program, Vice President for the University Professor Address Malata said the objective of the programme among others is to equip MUST academic and upper administrative personnel with knowledge and skills towards the institutional strategic goals and improve the innovation ecosystem in Malawi.
Professor Malata said the scholars will be able to provide solutions for addressing challenges and learn new innovative processes that can effectively improve the university’s operation.
“This is a program that will create an opportunity to innovate and come up with strategies that can help improve the surrounding communities of the university. The idea is to do things differently and mentor others in improving operations of the university as well as Malawi as a whole,” commented Professor Malata.
She added that the innovative ideas that have so far been implemented aim at touching and changing people’s lives, citing an example of a stove that was invented at the university which has a huge impact to the people that use it and will later be commercialized.
MUST is partnering with Michigan State University in its programme and commenting on the matter Kurt Richter, Deputy Director for Food Systems Innovation International Studies and Programs at the University said the program is important and seeks to motivate people to think technologically and innovative.
“We are helping in capacity building and we want MUST to use Science and Technology to solve local problems by working with the local people and once this is done, these students are going to use the knowledge they have to train others and by doing so, alleviating poverty,” explained Richter.
