Innovation Capacity Building Programs
- An Introduction to Innovation 15th June - 17th August 2023 (Thursdays 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm)
- Establishing and Sustaining an Innovation Support System 15th June - 17th August (Thursdays 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm)
Background:
The concept of innovation is one that is currently not well understood among many current and potential innovators. The term has been used in ways that have made it synonymous with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). As a result, current and potential innovators in other disciplines fail to understand if what they are engaged in or planning to engage in is actually innovation.
The practice of innovation too suffers from many false starts arising from ideas and prototypes that do not find their way to commercialization. The lack of knowledge on the end to end process of innovation has led to ‘stolen ideas’, ideas that are never actualized, missed investment opportunities, death of enterprises established from innovative ideas and fallout among innovators among many other challenges.
Course Objectives: To introduce innovators to fundamental concepts in innovation
Course Outline
|
Week |
Topic |
|
Week 1 |
An Overview of Innovation |
|
Week 2 |
Identifying Commercially Viable Ideas |
|
Week 3 |
Innovation Prototyping |
|
Week 4 |
Protecting Intellectual Property |
|
Week 5 |
Developing a Business Model |
|
Week 6 |
Innovation and Business Incubation Hubs |
|
Week 7 |
Monetizing Intellectual Property |
|
Week 8 |
Marketing Innovation Products |
|
Week 9 |
Resource Mobilization |
|
Week 10 |
Investment Readiness |
Eligibility: Training is open to all current and aspiring innovators
Establishing an innovation center is often seen as a strategic action in organizations that seek to support innovators in achieving the commercial value of their ideas. However, individuals and teams tasked with this process often lack clarity on the process of establishment, the activities and programs to run, appropriate staffing, and most importantly how to guide innovators from ideas to income.
Sustaining an innovation center is also a daunting task. The need to ‘pay the bills’ such as utilities and salaries, to be sustainable and to generate a return on investment continues to challenge most innovation centers. It is evident that reliance on grants is not sustainable and that the options for revenue generation are also not well understood. Overall most innovation centers may not know how to assess their performance and impact.
Course Objectives: To introduce innovation managers to fundamental concepts in establishing and managing innovation hubs and processes.
Course Outline
|
Week |
Topic |
|
Week 1 |
An Overview of Innovation |
|
Week 2 |
Types of Innovation Hubs |
|
Week 3 |
Services offered by Innovation Hubs |
|
Week 4 |
Establishing an Innovation Hub |
|
Week 5 |
Managing Innovation Projects |
|
Week 6 |
Competency and Skills Development |
|
Week 7 |
Revenue Generation |
|
Week 8 |
Collaborations and Partnerships |
|
Week 9 |
Performance Indicators for Innovation Hubs |
|
Week 10 |
Why Innovation hubs fail |
Eligibility: Training is open to all persons currently running or intending to run an innovation center
Course Delivery:
- Webinars
- Discussion Forums
- Quizzes
Costs: The training is free of charge
Certification: A Training Certificate will be issued on successful completion of all course activities (webinar attendance, discussions and quizzes)
Registration: Create an account on https://elearn.kabarak.ac.ke/ and enroll to the course
For more details contact the training coordinator – Dr Joyce Mochere on jmochere@kabarak.ac.ke
cc:
- The Coordinator, Innovation and Business Incubation innovations@kabarak.ac.ke
- The Director, Research, Innovation and Outreach director_research@kabarak.ac.ke
