25 Jun 2024

Out of the 10 richest companies in the world, nine are knowledge-based, says University of Botswana (UB) Vice Chancellor, Professor David Norris.

Speaking at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between UB and Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) to complement each other’s efforts on product development, Prof. Norris said it meant that intellectual capacity was the most important resource. 

However, he said universities could not achieve anything without working in an ecosystem made up of industry captains, civil society, government as well as companies such as BDC.

Prof. Norris said universities were not only stuck at basic and applied research, but were moving along the whole value chain to prototyping, product development and beneficiation, adding that the missing link was BDC because funds were needed to commercialise the developed products.

He said the understanding would support product and value chain development, emphasising that some innovations carried out by students were breathtaking. He described them as talented and that it demoralised them when their prototypes were not commercialised.

Giving an overview of the MoU, the dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Professor Edward Dintwa said the convergence of both UB and BDC mandates would ensure training, mentoring and commercialisation of products developed within the university.

He noted that their relationship with BDC came a long way and that the corporation had injected capital in some of their students’ projects. 

He said their biodiesel research was at an advanced stage and they were looking for partners to commercialise the prototype, noting that last year UB launched an innovation centre which focuses in assisting young people to develop, incubate and accelerate their business ideas.

 He said the centre also helped with entrepreneurial skills, training and financing, adding that BDC could be roped in to assist.

Prof. Dintwa said the scope of the MoU would include collaborations on businesses, partnerships in the commercialisation of UB research and development projects as well as the screening and approving of prospective licenses of UB technologies for possible funding. 

He also said the identification and referral of national and international investors and developers, including technical support and due-diligence, would be included.

BDC managing director, Mr Cross Kgosidiile said UB was a worthy institution to partner with on product development and the knowledge-based economy. He added that Botswana’s economy needed to be revived and transitioned from resource-based to knowledge-based.

He said taking knowledge and developing it into a product on the market was what they were intending to attain and this lied entirely on the relationship forged between UB and BDC.

Mr Kgosidiile said with a budget of P30 million, they were ready to assist citizens to develop new products for the export market. Ends