Call for Applications for the Vice Chancellor’s Creativity and Innovation Grant for Students

2nd Call for Applications for projects to be incubated at the Innovation Hub

Deadline 17 March 2022
  1. Background

The BUSE Innovation Hub seeks to be a catalyst for the provision of goods and services by unlocking intellectual property (IP) through commercialization of research and innovation outputs. It facilitates activities that create, recognize, elaborate, and articulate innovation activities resulting in prototypes, thereby providing a platform to launch innovators into the research-innovation-industrialization ecosystem. Projects to be supported at the Hub can be at varying levels such as ideation, proof of concept, prototype development, piloting, product refinement, or market ready. It is anticipated that such projects should result in outputs of a proprietary nature, i.e., generation of patents, utility models, copyrights, prototypes, proof of concepts, trademarks, etc. Ultimately, the goal is to create business ventures through exploitation of IP and establishment of start-up and spin-off companies.

To this end, the RID is inviting students across all faculties to submit their proposals for innovative and creative projects.

  1. Grant amount

The grant value typically ranges from RTGS equivalent of USD1, 000 – USD5, 000, depending on the nature of the project.

  1. Application process

Applications should be submitted to the Research and Innovation Department, and will be adjudicated in accordance with the applicable criteria based on innovation, creativity, relevancy, feasibility, sustainability and impact. The University defines innovation as “a novel or new solution that addresses societal problems”. In general, successful projects to be incubated at the Hub should seek to introduce services/processes/products that are either completely new (inventive) or those that add value to those in existence (innovative).

Applicants will be invited to a pitching session and those successful will be required to submit detailed proposals. Projects at the Hub will be incubated within pre-determined time frames, after which their residence times will expire.

Please submit your applications to the Research & Innovation Department using the email address below by 17 March 2022.

rid@buse.ac.zw