Collaboration drives innovation, and the Collaboration with Academia roundtable was a testament to the power of partnerships in Medtech. By bringing together university stakeholders, we explored how academia can work together to drive impactful research, build capacity, and translate groundbreaking ideas into real-world solutions.
Key Takeaways:
1. Encouraging collaborative R&D while maintaining institutional autonomy – Universities and industry players can work together to drive technological advancements while respecting institutional priorities, intellectual property rights, and research independence.
2. Capacity building must include patents & device innovation – Academia must go beyond traditional research and integrate intellectual property training, patent development, and medical device innovation into academic programs. By fostering a culture of innovation protection and commercialization, institutions can better contribute to the Medtech ecosystem.
3. Community engagement & fostering innovation from a young age – Universities play a crucial role in teaching innovation, creativity, and critical thinking at all levels. There was a strong call to engage younger students (primary and secondary) in innovation education and map the ecosystem to collaborate with organizations already doing this work, such as Young Scientists.
4. User-centered problem-solving for industry impact – Moving from a tech-push to a demand-pull approach requires deeper engagement with market needs. A key recommendation was to develop mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating real-world industry challenges to ensure that research and innovations are demand-driven and impactful.
What’s Next?
This roundtable was just the beginning of a broader movement toward deeper collaboration. By fostering communities of practice, mapping the innovation ecosystem, and engaging younger students in innovation and critical thinking, we can lay the foundation for a thriving medtech industry.
KNEIL remains committed to driving this agenda forward by strengthening partnerships, facilitating ecosystem engagement, and supporting academic institutions in transforming research into impactful solutions.
A huge thank you to our partners and participating institutions, including Invention Education – Kenyatta University, Strathmore University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), DEDAN KIMATHI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (DeKUT), AGA KHAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, EAST AFRICA United States International University – Africa, Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA), Mount Kenya University – MKU, GARISSA UNIVERSITY, Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital, The Lemelson Foundation, and many more.
Looking forward to the next steps in shaping the future of healthcare through innovation!
