17 October 2019
Own Correspondent
The Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) on Friday announced the recipients of the Botswana Innovation Fund (BIF) Second Call for Proposals. BIF is a Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology initiative intended to promote innovation through provision of early stage funding to innovative projects.
A total of 324 applications were submitted in the Second Call for Proposals with five projects selected to receive funding at a gala event at Botswana Craft Friday. The winners included ELGenuin Engineering Technology, Bayon Holdings, Bayon Holdings, Mmoloki Makoba from BIUST, Mmilili Mapolole from BITRI and Casper Nyamukondiwa from BIUST.
Julius Atlhopheng Dean of Science at the University of Botswana(UB), speaking at the award ceremony said “There is a need for multi stakeholder partnerships for developing, testing/incubation and implementing successful innovations. For example with businesses, start-ups, academia, individuals who impact change, services.”
He said, “There is a need for value creation through linking up with those outside an institute or company. This creates new opportunities. Usually an innovation strategy leads to enhancing opportunities for the short to long term.”
ELGenuin Engineering Technology is a stability monitoring and alert initiative using advanced stability monitoring and alert technologies at a mining site. It will monitor the slightest seismic disturbance, ground motion and vibrations on areas developing instabilities. In addition, it will give on-site alerts and insight on critical stability and impending geohazards. The technology allows monitoring movement of miners and equipment on the mining site for aid with location.
Bayon Holdings created a hybrid solution generating electricity for domestic consumption. It consists of different battery charging system not relying on combustion of fossil fuel. Therefore, it’s a Clean Technology Power Generator Solution.
Mmoloki Makoba(BIUST) has developed a small-scale integrated gasification power plant using Botswana coal in a more economic and environmentally friendly manner. It is therefore a less harmful process than the conventional power generation process. The plant targets to produce electricity for homes and businesses in areas without access to the national grid.
Mmilili Mapolole from BITRI has developed an environmentally friendly “green” technology extracting copper and nickel from tailings, concentrate and matte and turn them into higher value commercial products such as copper and nickel nanoparticles.
Casper Nyamukondiwa(BIUST) has developed a bug-bio-factory that produces locally reared parasitoid cocoons (‘biopesticide’) for biological control of agricultural pests. The aim is to provide a downloadable software application for the spatio-temporal forecasting of major insect pest outbreaks (BotsBug App). This will sustainably improve production efficiency, yields, household nutrition, reduce cost of production and improve food security.
In line with the BIH mandate, the Second Call for Proposals sought innovative solutions in the sectors of Mining technologies, Clean technologies, Biotechnology (Agriculture and Health Technologies), Information and Communications technologies, Knowledge intensive business services and Indigenous knowledge systems. The recipients are funded up to P2 million per project that is spent on eligible costs only. The funded projects are closely monitored, and grants are withdrawn on project milestone basis.
The Second Call for Proposals received applications from Research Institutes, Academic Organisations, Entrepreneurs, Applications Developers, Indigenous Knowledge Holders, Social Enterprises, Private Sector Companies and Non-governmental Organisations.
Alan Boshwaen, Botswana Innovation Hub(BIH) CEO, said, “we took a deliberate decision to open the call to a broader pool of applicants including companies that are not registered with BIH. We are happy to have received an increase in the number of applications (324) indicating a significant level of interest and efforts to innovate by Batswana. The funded projects are expected to scale up by accessing other funding instruments such as commercial banks and development funding institutions”.
The Botswana Innovation Fund (BIF) is a Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology initiative, administered by the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH).
