By Patricia Kapulula

Lilongwe, August 28, Mana: Malawi, through the National Commission for Science and Technology (NCST), will on Wednesday launch the Grant Challenges Malawi Initiative to accelerate innovation and trigger sustainable solutions by unlocking both international and domestic investments for collaborative research in the country.

NCST Acting Director General, Gift Kadzamira told journalists during a press briefing to announce the launch of the initiative in Lilongwe on Monday that the launch marks an important milestone for Malawi in building a better future for partnerships that foster development.

Kadzamira said through the initiative Malawi will have access to finances and intellectual capital for Malawi’s development.

She said the finances will help the Commission be able to give out grants to researchers and innovators in the country for them to provide quality research and have innovations that will solve societal problems that Malawi is facing.

“When giving out the grants, we will put out a call. Researchers and innovators will have to apply or respond to the call. Thereafter, there will be a review process which will be done by reputable local and international researchers,” she said.

Kadzamira, however, expressed concern that despite the country having so many innovations taking place at grass root level, the Commission is unable to provide resources for the innovators to fine tune their innovations to commercial stage.

She, therefore, said the initiative has come at the right time as it will bridge the gap that exists in as far as innovation is concerned.

“Having the grand challenge is beneficial for Malawi. The demand in research and innovation is high as such the initiative will enable us narrow the gap that is there in terms of finances,” said Kadzamira.

NCST will launch the initiative at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe in conjunction with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and Science for Africa Foundation.

It is expected that Minister of Education, Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima will launch the initiative.

Speaking at Kigali International Convetion Centre when she attended the launch of the Grand Challenges Rwanda in May this year, Wirima described the initiative as important saying it is meant to address innovation challenges through collaboration with government, private sector, academic institutions, civil society and the environmental sector.

“We are facing challenges that require creative multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary collaborative approaches to affectively address them,” she said.

Malawi becomes the sixth country in Africa to launch the initiative after Botswana, Ethiopia, Senegal, South Africa and Rwanda.

Grand Challenges is an initiative that provides grants to researchers and innovators working on science, technology, health and development issues.

Mana/pk/