Innovation Incubation Center

The Maasai Mara University Innovation and Entrepreneurial Incubation (M-InnovEnt) Center was established as a strategic initiative designed to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization of research outputs. This establishment aligns with the university’s Commercialization and Entrepreneurial Master Plan (2024-2027), aiming to position MMARAU as a hub for economic growth and community development through academic excellence and innovative practices.

The Center is run by a Technology Transfer Officer (TTO) supported by an Innovation Officer and an IP Technical Officer as well as other Office admins. There are at least four tiers of trained personnel working closely with the innovators to realize the most feasible value propositions from their innovations for commercialization. These personnel include; Innovation Champions, Training of Trainers (ToTs), Research to Commercialization personnel and Institution Working Groups. The Center is compliant to the national and institutional policies that guide her operation. The following policy documents have been put in place for ratification with the national innovation ecosystem policy environment;

  1. An IP Policy
  2. An Innovation 3-year Masterplan document
  3. Commercialization Policy
  4. Innovations Incubation Policy
  5. Chancellors Innovation Award
  6. Other affiliate policies such as Research Policy and Consultancy Policy

The center establishment will follow a phased approach, ensuring systematic development and operationalization of the Innovation Incubation hub as outlined in the MMARAU strategic plan 2024-2029 as well as MMARAU Commercialization and Entrepreneurship Masterplan 2024- 2027.

Objectives of the Center

The establishment of M-InnovEnt hub seeks to;

  • Support Start-ups through provision of resources, mentorship, and infrastructure to nurture start-ups within the university and the local community.
  • Commercialize Research by Facilitating the translation of academic research into viable commercial products and services.
  • Enhance entrepreneurial skills among students and faculty through targeted programs and
  • Foster Collaborations through building strategic partnerships with industry, government, and international organizations.

Rationale to partner with the center

The University’s strategic location and the identified research priorities has opened up many opportunities for her to take up. Key amongst these is the large community support bestowed upon the University. By leveraging on the 4Ms, the University seeks to enhance her research and innovation outputs to produce viable industrial products to solve societal problems while capitalizing on this market base. M-Innov-Ent is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will seek to bridge this gap by incubating innovations to industrial products. M-Innov-Ent draws her innovations for incubation not only from the University students and staff base but also from the University community that spans throughout the entire County. There are at least 90 mobilized innovations from all the University and the Community, with over 60 of these registered with various Intellectual Property (IP) registration bodies in Kenya. These innovations span across various national and global research priority areas thus putting them in an opportune position for collaboration and funding. The innovations are carefully mentored to fit in contemporary research areas including: climate change mitigation, digital transformation, environment resource management, health, education, wildlife management, fintech amongst others. The innovations have also attracted national recognition with one of the innovation groups named Ecomed Innovation Smart medical wastebin recently (30th September, 2024) emerging 1st runners up position during an Africa One Health University Network (AFROHUN) competition. The Center is semi-autonomous and is expected to fund itself including its establishment through partnerships and collaborations.

Innovation Activities

Maasai Mara University Participation in the Kenya Innovation Week, 2024

The Kenya Innovation Week, 2024 was organized by Kenya National Innovation Agency (KENIA) with the help of a number of partners including, the ICT Authority, National Research Fund (NRF), Royal Academy of Engineering, Newton Fund, KENET, NACOSTI, HEIFER International, Wavumbuzi, Jasiri, Riara University, Magical Kenya, KIPI, IP ARIPO, Ministry of Trade and Industries, GITEX Africa Morocco, Technical University of Kenya and STEM Impact Center. The event had a number of speakers led by the president of the Republic of Kenya, Dr. William Samoei Ruto, the cabinet secretary-Ministry for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and sports, Hon Kipchumba Murkomen, Cabinet Secretary-Ministry of Education, Hon Julius Migos Ogamba. The delegation from Maasai Mara University was led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof P. Aloo-Obudho.

There were at least 30 different sessions covered during the KIW, 2024. The University was represented in different frontiers including:

  1. The Vice Chancellors edition that included signing of the University Innovation Masterplan – represented by the Vice Chancellor
  2. The AI Summit – where Dr Anil Kumar was a panelist
  • The Presidential Innovation Award (PIA) Challenge – Mr. Bakari Chaka was a participant
  1. Awards session – where Dr. Simon Macharia was awarded Kenya’s best innovations mentor
  2. Innovation exhibitions – with seven University innovators showcasing different innovations across the entire week

The innovation week outputs included: signed masterplan document, an award on best innovation mentor in Kenya, numerous connections and anticipated shortlisting towards the Presidential Innovation Award winner to be announced in February, 2025.

A picture of the VC and KeNIA CEO exchanging committed innovation masterplan document and the VC leading the University innovation exhibitors at their booth

The Kenya Airport Parkers Services – JKUAT AI-based Innovations Hackathon

The Kenya Air Port Parking Services (KAPS) and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), in collaboration with Kenyan public and private universities led by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) organized an Inter-University Hackathon in November 2024. The theme for this year’s Hackathon is Harnessing AI for Real-World Applications. The hackathon attracted at least 300+ submissions from 28 Universities. After two rounds of elimination, 42 teams were shortlisted. Maasai Mara University had two team in the final shortlisted teams scheduled for 15th November, 2024 in Rainbow Resort, Ruiru. Maasai Mara University had nine submissions (out of the 300+ innovations) and two (2) were shortlisted in the final 42 teams i.e. Eco-diary (on livestock feed mix specification using AI to reduce methane production while increasing milk yields) and Wind Analysis Software that analyzed large volumes of wind data for specified uses. The Eco-diary team from the University winning the best climate change, Agriculture and Food security award and emerging third best overall.

Innovations Exhibition Competition by Ecomed Solution Innovators

The Ecomed Solution Innovators, comprising of a team of seven (7) Bsc. Nursing students in their third year of study from Maasai Mara University has developed an innovation on a smart bin that sorts and separates medical wastes in health facilities. The team applied for an innovations competition organized by Africa One Health Universities Network (AFROHUN). After a vigorous three-round selection process comprising of 30+ Universities in Kenya, the team was amongst seven other teams from other Universities that was shortlisted for physical pitching in Pride Inn Azure, Nairobi on 30th September, 2024. The team emerged 1st runners up in the Competition and were awarded with: a trophy, a cash reward of 1,000 USD as well as the following benefits: (i) mentorship program by Young Africa Leaders Initiative (YALI), (ii) incubation of the innovation at Konza technopolis, (iii) a capacity building tour to Konza technopolis, (iv) links to a software developer and (v) links to industrial partners to commercialize the innovation.

Maasai Mara University AI Innovations Hackathon, 2024

As part of her strategic plan implementation activities and in the spirit of promotion of innovation competitiveness in the University, a mini-hackathon was organized on Tuesday, 22nd October, 2024. The Hackathon was geared towards Artificial Intelligence related innovations so as to align itself with the national innovation week (Kenya Innovation Week, 2024) whose focus was on AI. The hackathon was also geared towards screening the most viable AI-related innovations in the University community which will be exhibited during the KIW, 2024. At least 26 AI related innovations were submitted with 24 of them participating in the competition. The innovations were from the University (20), Kabarak University (1), Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, MMUST (1), University of Kabianga (3) and African Cultural Conservation, Education, Creativity, Innovation and Research, ACCECIR Foundation (1). The hackathon was graced by representatives from CBaas, Netherlands (Dr. Andre Verma), and Nakuru Box who promised to incubate the best innovations from the hackathon.

The innovations addressed how to use AI to tackle various societal challenges – most notably being, Maa culture conservation, environment conservation, disaster preparedness, nursing and caregiving services, agriculture, medicine, medical wastes management and business management. After a very stiff competition, adjudicated by a pool of seven judges, the following teams emerged winners (first six only);

  1. Maa Tamshi app on Maa language development by ACCECIR Foundation
  2. “AeroGuard: AI-Driven Drone Deployment for Eco-Friendly Insect Control in Wildlife Habitats by University of Kabianga
  • INanny – a system for caregivers by MMARAU
  1. TechBin Medical Wastes Management System by MMARAU
  2. AI – a system for Junior Secondary School learning by MMARAU
  3. BMS Solutions – a system for marketing via language translation by MMARAU

It was agreed that the Directorate of Research and Innovation will help to protect all the IPs (priority being those from MMARAU) and help fund prototypes for each of them as well as incubate them at the Innovations Incubation Center.