It is an institution that will transform Lesotho at the core. And it is called the National University of Lesotho (NUL) Innovation Hub.
No doubt the college has seen ballooning levels of innovation under the current leadership of Professor Nqosa Mahao, the NUL Vice Chancellor!
“The NUL Innovation Hub will be a vehicle through which we will transform ideas into realities,” said Professor ‘Mathoto Lephoto, the NUL Pro-Vice Chancellor, as the concept was being introduced to the NUL senate.
[Submit your abstract to NULISTICE-RERIS 2018, www.nulistice.org.ls]
The Senate then approved the concept officially, to be a permanent feature of the school in the Roma Valley.
“The plan is ready; we are going to renovate the old and disused NUL laundry building to house the incubation part of the hub,” said Dr Mosotho George who represents NUL Innovation Committee.
“We just need funding for the hub from whoever will help.”
Indeed NUL is already working with Swiss Academy for Development (SAD) to search for the financing of this important milestone in the history of the University.
In the view of Dr Dirk Steuerwald, SAD Project Manager in Switzerland, this is the reason SAD is getting involved, “According to the view of stakeholders in Lesotho, the local economy is caught up in poverty due to its peoples’ inability to manufacture products, which is also linked to a lack of opportunities for self-employment.”
Dr Steuerwald’s concern has long been echoed by Professor Nqosa Mahao.
For instance, during the launching of “Every Mosotho’s Darling,” the NUL made yogurt called Sebabatso, Professor Mahao described the then envisaged Innovation Hub as a place “where all of the creative and scientific works that have been generated by our scientists will get assisted in incubating and multiplying.”
He then uttered what would be a historic quote, “It is true that there is no country in the world that has developed by importing virtually everything it uses in its domestic economy, as we do in this country. We even import toothpicks,” he said
A strong message!
But what is innovation hub anyway? “We need to decode the words “innovation” and “hub” to understand “Innovation Hub,”” Dr George said.
Innovation, of course, is one of the buzzwords of our time, yet one of the least understood. That should not come as a surprise; things we take for granted are often the most mysterious.
That said, let’s give it a shot!
But, first let us see what innovation is NOT. “Innovation is NOT invention,” Dr George emphasized.
Indeed they are related, but they are not one thing.
One reference defines innovation as, “EXECUTING an idea which addresses a specific challenge and achieves value for both the executioner and the beneficiary.”
Note the emphasis on EXECUTION—innovation is about action, not talk. If you get this point, then you know why innovation is far more difficult than just research or invention.
For instance, it is relatively simple to come up with an idea such as Facebook-like software; anyone with education in software development can do that.
But to get that system in to the market and to make it hold 2 billion active users as Facebook does, that is the hard part! To achieve it, you don’t only need software people; you need people of ALL educational backgrounds. That is called innovation—the innovation of Facebook proportions!
Now the hub—what is it? A hub is common connection point. “In our case, a hub is a virtual space where we will bring minds together to solve specific problems, to connect,” Dr George explained.
What then is the NUL Innovation Hub? First note that it is not NUL Incubation Hub. At the risk of boring you with definitions, let’s try for the last time!
Incubation hub is a facility that develops startup businesses through management training, mentoring and space.
So what’s the difference between incubation and innovation hubs? Innovation hubs involve, not just testing ideas as businesses, but also generating those ideas in the first place. Thus incubation can be part of innovation—rarely the other way round.
In short, NUL Innovation Hub will both generate ideas (nothing generates more ideas than research, NUL’s specialty) and select those ideas to incubate them to form businesses.
Bright NUL minds will come up with tested ideas. Once those ideas are promising for business, the minds will be given incubation space and they will be supported financially and with training as they test their businesses.
Two to three years down the line the businesses will graduate and new ones will come in. Some will fail, of course, this is business, O!
What of those protests? “But this is not the university’s mandate, universities should teach, teach and teach!”
Nope!
Promoting innovation and job-creation is called a “Third Mission” of modern universities, more so public universities, from “Teaching Universities,” to “Research Universities” to “Entrepreneurial Universities.”
So don’t worry as NUL transforms itself into an “Entrepreneurial University.” How else would you be enjoying a finger-lickin’ good Sebabatso instead of famous foreign brands decorating our supermarkets, had that not been the case?
[Submit your abstract to NULISTICE-RERIS 2018, www.nulistice.org.ls]