Innovators turn to varsity docs to develop ideas

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (Costech) has developed a strategy aimed at training, supervising and assisting innovators using university research findings in establishing and marketing their business ideas globally.

For long, scientific research with commercial ideas has remained in libraries but Costech’s strategy seems to be creating links between researchers and innovators in using findings to improve ways of doing business.

The commission’s Innovative Cluster Initiative (CI), an organised intervention that aims at increasing SME competitiveness and growth of the local industry and hence socio-economic development, is now creating value among local innovators.

Speaking to The Citizen at Ardhi University during the celebration of World Innovation Day on Thursday, the beneficiaries of the project implemented by Costech in collaboration with Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO) and Swedish Partner (SICD) expressed the benefits of their innovations.

Mr Rajabu Ali Ameir, secretary of the Zanzibar Seaweed Cluster Initiative (ZaSCI) which is one of the first eight clusters established in 2005, said that seaweed has long been cultivated in Zanzibar but with no productivity or commercial innovation.

"Through this initiative, at present we can harvest an average of 15,000 tonnes per year of which 99 percent is exported and only one percent being used locally," he explained.

He said the countries that import the most seaweeds were China, the United States, Belgium, and France, all of which have already established their own companies locally that are involved in the trade.

He explained that ZaSCI was set up due to the problems they (more than 25,000) farmers were facing without an umbrella to bring them together. During that period (before 2005) he said the price of dry seaweed was Sh100 per kilo, but now it is between Sh800 to Sh1, 500.

"Without Costech we would probably still be engaging in unproductive seaweed farming and we would be doing it individually without cooperation. Now we are trusted by our customers and we see value,” he said.

According to Mr Ameir, Seaweed is used as food, for cosmetics production, medicinal purposes, for industrial use in the manufacture of pharmaceutical covers such as capsules, as well as for many minerals that are essential and not found in any other plant.

"The Cluster idea was acquired in 2004 at the University of Dar es Salaam and later transferred to Costech where seaweed researcher, Dr Flower Msuya (chairman Zasci) gave us the idea of seaweed productive farming," he noted.

For his part, the Secretary of (Uwazamam), an agriculture marketing cooperative society formed by grape farmers in Mpunguzi Ward (Dodoma), said in the past they were growing grapes at a huge loss due to high cost of production.

He said, according to the studies conducted, more than 30 percent of the grape crop was rotting in the field and later they had to come together as a cluster under Costech, and bought machines to improve value.

"We were given training and decided instead of selling harvested grapes, we started producing basic wine which we now sell to big wine producers in the country," he told The Citizen.

“Currently the productivity is high because before this innovation, a kilo of grapes was Sh700 to Sh800 but now a kilo of basic wine is Sh4000 to Sh6000. So at the moment we’re benefiting from grape cultivation,” he explained.

According to Dr Erasto Mlyuka, technology management and transfer manager at Costech, capacity building training for innovative cluster groups was aimed at assisting in marketing of innovations.

"They have been receiving ICT training and we help them in marketing their products across the globe through networks thus enabling the customer to order products from anywhere," said Dr Mulyuka.

This method of using clusters has been alive for more than a decade according to Dr Mulyuka. He explained that they have been using research conducted by university researchers and then transfer that knowledge to innovators for implementation.

He said when they started in 2008 they had eight innovative clusters but so far the project has managed to have 15 innovative clusters that are now profiting from their activities.