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Mozambique universities commit to improving their intellectual property management practices

Posted on by Janet Otieno

Scientists and experts from six Mozambique universities and research organisations came together in a three-day workshop on 22-24 April in Maputo to develop action plans for intellectual property (IP) management in Mozambican higher education institutions. The workshop brought together 32 participants including 12 women from universities and research institutes across the country, including a team from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), which manages the PASET Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (Rsif).

An effective IP management is a critical part of an innovation system. IP are the creations of the mind, which are protected through patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Universities and research institutes can license their IP to private companies, which put them to industrial or commercial use. In this way, universities contribute to growth and development, when the out put of their research is put to use in the production of goods and services.

In her opening remarks, Dr Sheila Canda, Director of Mozambique’s Intellectual Property Institute stressed the importance of IP protection for national development. “The key role of the institute in supporting researchers is to protect novel ideas from their research work.  Researchers need to embrace a culture of protecting their intellectual assets which will ultimately increase the number of protection rights in the form of patents, trademarks etc from higher education institution.”

Dr Fernando dos Santos, an IP expert who facilitated the workshop said, “There are several strategies that institutions can adopt to promote innovation and technology transfer within higher education and research centres across the country. However, for these strategies to be effective, it is critical to strengthen the linkages between innovation, technology transfer, and intellectual property management. This integration is key to fostering a strong culture of entrepreneurship among students and faculty in Mozambican institutions.”

Ms Cynthia Orangó, the Research and Innovation grants officer of Rsif underscored the role of universities in driving economic transformation through innovation. She said, “There is a need to co-create actionable, context-specific plans that will strengthen research translation, IP protection, and entrepreneurship in higher education institutions across Mozambique.”

Key sessions featured insights from Prof Manuel Rebelo who talked about Mozambique’s innovation policy landscape. Other presentations were on IP registration processes, and experiences from universities and research centres, including Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), among others. Panel discussions highlighted lessons in developing effective IP policies to foster university-industry linkages.

By the end of the workshop, all participating institutions had drafted tailored action plans to improve their innovation ecosystems, marking a critical step toward advancing research commercialization by Mozambique’s universities and research organisations.

Egas Armando, Rsif Scholar and faculty member at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, shares insights on how Business Incubation Centres and Technology Transfer Offices are helping universities turn ideas into real-world impact at the workshop.
Egas Armando, Rsif Scholar and faculty member at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, shares insights on how Business Incubation Centres and Technology Transfer Offices are helping universities turn ideas into real-world impact at the workshop.

The workshop was organised with the theme, “strengthening university innovation ecosystem and support for intellectual property management practices”, and specifically targeted Mozambique universities and research organisations that are benefiting from Rsif/ MozSkills project’s Institutional Innovation Capacity Building Program (ICBP).

Rsif s a flagship initiative of the Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET). It is implemented by icipe as the Regional Coordination Unit (RCU) since August 2018. Rsif’s development objective is to strengthen the institutional capacity for quality doctoral training, research, and innovation in transformative technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Mozambique is a member of the PASET. It contributes to the Rsif through its Improvement for Skills Development (MozSkills) project. Through this contribution, Mozambique is supporting 40 PhD scholars (32 Mozambican) and 14 research and innovation projects across eight Mozambican higher education institutions and one research centre are being supported.

 

 

Shaping the Future: Experts Unite in Mozambique to Strengthen PhD Programmes for Food Security and Climate Action

Posted on by Janet Otieno

Maputo, Mozambique – A pivotal symposium was recently held at the University of Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, to address the urgent need to strengthen PhD programmes and research collaborations aimed at tackling escalating food insecurity exacerbated by climate change.

The event which was organised by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) – the Regional Coordination Unit for the Africa Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund for Applied Sciences, Engineering, and Technology (Rsif) – in collaboration with UEM’s African Centre of Excellence in Agri-Food Systems and Nutrition, brought together leading scholars, researchers and policy makers across Africa.

Themed “Building Resilient Agrifood Systems and Climate Action in Mozambique,” the symposium convened academics and researchers from Mozambique and Rsif African Host Universities (AHUs) with PhD programmes in food security  – Sokoine University of Agriculture ( Tanzania), University of Ghana (Ghana), Makerere University (Uganda), and Haramaya University (Ethiopia) – to collectively share climate mitigation and adaptation strategies to improve food production, pest control, and environmental sustainability. Rsif has enrolled 282 PhD students since 2018 in 15 AHUs, with  33.69 % undertaking PhD studies in food security and climate change.

With a report from Food and Agriculture Organisation raising a red flag that over 282 million people across Africa are facing food insecurity, worsened by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, initiatives like Rsif play an important role in building resilient agrifood systems and addressing Africa’s skills gap in agriculture and climate science.

Keynote Insights and Future Directions

Dr. Rachida Mamade, Director of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education, highlighted that Mozambique’s Government, through the MozSkills project, has pledged substantial resources to PhD training and innovation in agriculture, aiming to foster a skilled workforce capable of driving agricultural transformation.

Dr. Mamade remarked, “The support from Rsif and MozSkills is pivotal in creating sustainable solutions for Mozambique’s future.”

The symposium showcased UEM’s recent PhD programmes, focusing on pest management, microbial contamination in crops, and nutritional enhancements in soybeans and maize – all important for strengthening Mozambique’s agricultural resilience which in turn would boost food security for the citizenry.

On her part, Dr Ana Menezes, from The World Bank hailed the efforts of Rsif and the MozSkills project in advancing doctoral training and research capacity in Mozambique.

“The collaboration between Rsif African Host Universities and Mozambican institutions like the University Eduardo Mondlane is critical for addressing pressing challenges in food security and climate resilience. By working together, we can build stronger research ecosystems that not only benefit Mozambique but also contribute to sustainable development across Africa,”  Dr Menezes said.

Dr Julius Ecuru, Manager, Research and Innovation Coordination Units at icipe, underscored the crucial role of such partnerships in equipping students with the skills needed to become independent scientists who contribute to their countries’ development. “With access to top facilities and diverse academic cultures, our students are globally competitive and can make significant contributions upon returning home,” Dr Ecuru stated.

The participants at the symposium also pointed out critical challenges in PhD training, including delayed graduation due to weak student- supervisor relationships, weak mentorship, low employability of PhD graduates and few post-doctoral programmes.

In tackling the challenges mentioned, the symposium participants proposed various recommendations to establish capacity building workshops, continuous mile stone tracking for the purpose of accountability and supervisor seminars to improve PhD completion timeline.

Group discussions during the symposium.

Besides a proposal to buttress university incubation centres to help PhD students commercialize their research, employers were also urged to recognize the diverse skillset PhD graduates have.  Furthermore, participants highlighted the need for dedicated resources to establish postdoctoral and mentorship programmes and emphasized the importance of enhancing student and faculty mobility through international research collaborations.

The symposium discussed and agreed to work together to address challenges in fostering research collaboration, particularly poor research infrastructure and the weak link between research and industry needs. Universities were urged to allocate more funds to improve research facilities and leverage development grants to procure essential equipment. It was recommended that PhD programmes aim to solve real-world industry problems, with curricula updated to align with industry demands. Strengthening partnerships with industry and technical vocational institutes (TVETs) was also emphasized to enhance mentorship and provide PhD students with access to specialised resources and equipment.

Looking Ahead

The symposium set a strong foundation for continued collaboration between Rsif AHUs and UEM, aiming to grow this into a formidable network of African universities with globally recognised PhD programmes in agricultural and food systems and climate action.

The event provided a clear roadmap for strengthening doctoral training and promoting regional cooperation to build resilient agrifood systems in the face of growing climate adversity.

 

 

Moçambique compromete-se a fortalecer a capacidade de traduzir os resultados da investigação em utilizações prácticas para a diversificação económica.

Posted on by RSIF PASET

4 de Dezembro de 2023: O Centro Internacional de Fisiologia e Ecologia de Insectos (icipe) (www.icipe.org), juntamente com o Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior da República de Moçambique, organizaram um Fórum para discutir o progresso da implementação de projectos de investigação e inovação de 6 a 9 de dezembro de 2023 em Vilankulo, Moçambique. Os projectos são financiados pelo projecto de Melhoria do Desenvolvimento de Competências em Moçambique (MozSkills), apoiado pelo Banco Mundial, através do qual Moçambique está a contribuir com 6 milhões de dólares para o Fundo Regional de Bolsas de Estudo e Inovação (Rsif) da Parceria para Competências em Ciências Aplicadas, Engenharia e Tecnologia (PASET) (www.paset-rsif.org). Esta contribuição destina-se à formação de estudantes de doutoramento moçambicanos e a projectos de investigação e inovação liderados por universidades e instituições de investigação moçambicanas. O icipe é a Unidade de Coordenação Regional do Rsif. O Fórum centrar-se-á nas medidas que estão a ser tomadas para desenvolver capacidades em Moçambique para traduzir os resultados da investigação em utilizações prácticas para a diversificação económica.

Moçambique, com uma população de 33 milhões de pessoas (2023) e um crescimento do PIB de 4,8% (2023), de acordo com o Banco Africano de Desenvolvimento, é uma das economias com crescimento mais rápido na África Subsariana. As indústrias extractivas e a agricultura são as que mais contribuem para o PIB de Moçambique. Com os seus abundantes recursos naturais, incluindo terras aráveis, água, energia e recursos minerais, Moçambique tem potencial para diversificar a sua economia. Mas transformar este potencial em realidade requer, entre outros, uma massa crítica de mão-de-obra cientificamente qualificada no mercado de trabalho. O aumento do investimento no ensino superior produz as competências e conhecimentos necessários para a diversificação económica. Até à data, 0,3% do PIB de Moçambique é gasto em investigação e desenvolvimento, o que é ainda inferior ao 1% do PIB recomendado pela União Africana; e existem apenas 43 investigadores (equivalente a tempo inteiro) por milhão de habitantes.

Para melhorar a sua base de competências científicas, excelência em investigação e inovação, Moçambique, através do Projecto MozSkills, juntou-se a outros oito países africanos do Rsif/PASET em 2021. Os oito países que também contribuem para o Rsif/PASET são o Benim, Burkina Faso, Costa do Marfim, Gana, Quénia, Nigéria, Ruanda e Senegal. O Rsif oferece a Moçambique a oportunidade de formar doutorados de alta qualidade através do intercâmbio académico intra-africano e de parcerias internacionais para formação de doutorados de classe mundial. Proporciona também uma rede académica e de investigação mais alargada através de estágios de investigação numa instituição avançada para exposição a tecnologias de ponta e ligação a redes de investigação globais, bem como integração regional em África através de centros de excelência e ecossistemas de inovação.

O Fórum reúne equipas de projecto moçambicanas, investigadores, parceiros colaboradores, líderes de instituições de implementação (reitores/directores), oradores principais, funcionários do governo, o Banco Mundial e o icipe, para partilhar experiências e discutir estratégias para melhorar a capacidade de traduzir os resultados da investigação em utilizações prácticas.

Com este compromisso, Moçambique está no caminho certo para construir instituições fortes e para formar futuros líderes científicos que tornarão possível a concretização da sua visão de crescimento e desenvolvimento orientados para a ciência e tecnologia.

Mozambique commits to building capacity for translating research outputs into practical uses for economic diversification.

Posted on by RSIF PASET

4 December 2023: The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) (www.icipe.org), together with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Mozambique, have organized a Forum to discuss implementation progress of research and innovation projects on 6-9 December 2023 in Vilankulo, Mozambique. The projects are funded by the World Bank supported Improvement of Skills Development in Mozambique (MozSkills) project through which Mozambique is contributing US$ 6 million to the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (Rsif) of the Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) (www.paset-rsif.org). This contribution is towards training Mozambican PhD students and for research and innovation projects led by Mozambican universities and research institutions. icipe is the Regional Coordination Unit of the Rsif. The Forum will focus on measures being taken to build capacity within Mozambique for translating research outputs into practical uses for economic diversification.

Mozambique, with a population of 33 million people (2023) and GDP growth of 4.8% (2023) according to the African Development Bank, is one of the fastest growing economies in Sub Saharan Africa. Extractives and agriculture contribute the highest to the GDP of Mozambique. With its abundant natural resources, including arable land, water, energy and mineral resources, Mozambique has potential to diversify its economy. But turning this potential into reality requires, among others, a critical mass of scientifically skilled workforce in the labour market. Increasing investment in higher education produces the necessary skills and knowledge for economic diversification. So far, 0.3% of Mozambique’s GDP is spent on research and development, which is still lower than the 1% of GDP recommended by the African Union; and there are only 43 researchers (full time equivalent) per million inhabitants.

To improve its scientific skills base, research excellence and innovation, Mozambique, through the MozSkills Project, joined eight other African countries of the Rsif/PASET in 2021. The eight countries also contributing to the Rsif/PASET are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Senegal. Rsif offers Mozambique the opportunity to train high quality PhDs through intra-Africa academic exchange and international partnerships for world-class doctoral training. It also provides a wider academic and research network through research placements at an advanced institution for exposure to cutting-edge technologies and connecting with global research networks, as well as regional integration within Africa through centers of excellence and innovation ecosystems.

The Forum brings together Mozambican project teams researchers, collaborating partners, leaders of implementing institutions (rectors / directors), keynote speakers, government officials, the World Bank and icipe, to share experiences and discuss strategies for improving capacity for translating research outputs into practical uses.

With such a commitment, Mozambique is on the right track of building strong institutions and nurturing future science leaders who will make it possible to realise its vision of a science and technology-led growth and development.