Developing a culture of research and innovation |25 April 2015

Lecturers involved in doing research and researchers from various institutions and agencies in the country have learned about the importance of developing a culture of research and innovation.

They have also learned of the importance of building the capacity of researchers so as to have a network of researchers among countries and how to access international funding for research among other related issues.  

This was during a two-day workshop organised by the University of Seychelles in collaboration with the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (Sarima) and the Institute for Science and Technology Development of the Southern African Development Community (Sad) at the Guy Morel Institute at Majoie.

Sarima is a stakeholder organisation that provides a platform to promote and encourage best practices in research and innovation management in southern Africa. Its main purpose is to strengthen research and innovation systems to ensure social and economic development of the southern African region.

Those taking part in the workshop discussed and learned more on innovation and research in Seychelles, in the region and globally, the challenges of research management as well as current trend in the research environment, development of research policies and strategies.

Professor Jesika Singh, director of research at the University of Limpopo, South Africa, Dr Jose  Jackson-Malete, director of research and partnerships at the Botswana institute of Technology Research and Innovation, Dr Jemma Simeon from the University of Seychelles, Anneline Morgan head of science and technology development at the Sadc and Xavier Estico, the chief executive of the National Institute of Science, Technology and Innovation (Nisti) made presentations and led discussions during the training sessions.

Professor Dennis Hardy, vice-chancellor of the University of Seychelles launched the training sessions.

Addressing everyone present, professor Hardy said the training is an important step forward as we need to have skills if we want to move forward in research.
“Research is very important and being a very small country we need to know how to work more effectively as a team and to develop foreign research partnerships,” said professor Hardy.

He noted that Seychelles has been absent in regional research programmes and initiatives and hopes the training will give a boost to research here.
In her presentation Ms Morgan said the importance of building research and innovation management capacity in Sadc countries was recognised during a Sadc ministers’ meeting in Windhoek in 2011.

“Member countries were lagging behind in terms of research output,” she pointed out, noting that this was found to be due to lack of research infrastructures and funding, lack of networking and collaboration among stakeholders.

She said from then on a project to build the capacity and skills of researchers, research managers, and encourage research collaboration among Sadc countries was developed.

A sum of US $340,000 has been earmarked for the project to be carried out over a three-year period.
When she talked about Sarima, Dr Jackson-Malete pointed out that it offers a lot of opportunities for researchers whom she said need to be engaging more with research institutions in the Sadc region.

She highlighted some important initiatives of Sarima and the numerous benefits researchers could gain from being a member of the association.

Patrick Nicette from the Seychelles Bureau of Standards and Mr Estico gave an overview of research in the university and other institutions and agencies here, how research is funded, research and innovation management structures, functions among other related issues.

The last session of the workshop provided feedback on the training needs survey that will be completed online. The priority needs for research and innovation training and capacity building for Seychelles was also analysed.