Strengthening university-business partnerships in Africa to scale up capacity building for innovation

Strengthening university-business partnerships in Africa to scale up capacity building for innovation

 The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), established in 2004, is a consortium of 170 universities from 40 African countries. Its secretariat is based at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. RUFORUM supports the African Union in the implementation of the African Union Strategy on Science, Technology and Innovation. Learn more: https://www.ruforum.org/

The collaboration between DeSIRA LIFT Area 2, implemented by COLEAD in partnership with the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), and RUFORUM has been significantly strengthened. This partnership focuses on a comprehensive review of the national science, technology and innovation landscape with the aim of translating university research and innovation into viable businesses. The primary objective is to generate knowledge to support agribusiness incubation and entrepreneurship within African universities, targeting both faculty and students as entrepreneurs, innovators and job creators.

Key activities include identifying successful business cases linked to university research outputs or graduates. This will involve documenting lessons learned on capacity strengthening and exploring potential leverage points for university-enterprise partnerships to scale up innovation. This work is crucial for scaling up innovation and strengthening the links between universities and business, and more globally between academia and the private sector. It also contributes to the ongoing study on financing innovation. Preliminary findings were discussed at the 2nd RUFORUM Triennial Conference on “Operationalising Higher Agricultural Education and Research Ecosystems for Innovation, Industrialisation and Economic Development in Africa: A Call for Action”, held in Namibia in August 2024.

This initiative is in line with COLEAD’s broader objectives, which focus on enhancing the capacity of universities to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. It aims to create a robust ecosystem where academic research can directly contribute to economic development and job creation in the agribusiness sector.

In addition, two other areas of work are being developed with RUFORUM: co-certification mechanisms for vocational training of agricultural innovation facilitators, and an overview of existing e-learning platforms offering self-paced training modules on innovation management and facilitation. These modules will be used by professionals involved in agricultural innovation projects in Africa.

Strengthening partnerships between universities and businesses in Africa is essential for scaling up skills development and fostering innovation. By aligning educational outcomes with industry needs, fostering collaborative research and addressing existing challenges, these partnerships can make a significant contribution to the continent’s economic development. As Africa continues to grow and develop, university-industry collaboration will play a key role in shaping a prosperous and innovative future.

DeSIRA-LIFT (June 2021 – May 2025) is the result of close collaboration between Agrinatura (European Alliance on Agricultural Knowledge for Development), the European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD) and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA).