By Zuze Sebastian Matoliro

The three-day Innovation Week was a success! Running from 15th – 17th May 2024, this week aims to bolster and encourage discourse on innovations amongst MWL staff.

Addressing stakeholders at the opening event, MLW’s Director, Professor Henry Mwandumba, underscored that the Innovations Week provided various players in the innovation spectrum with an opportunity to collaborate on advancing efforts in inventions.

Professor Mwandumba said, “MLW believes research is part of innovations as it impacts societies. State-of-the-art infrastructure and partnerships are some of the factors that drive innovations forward.”

Characterising innovations as key to achieving Malawi’s Vision 2063, the Prof. Mwandumba specifically highlighted that the Clinical Research Excellence and Training Open Resource (CREATOR) building being erected within MLW will provide an environment for people to think broadly and ambitiously.

Gracing the event, the Research Manager for the National Planning Commission, Andrew Jamali, stated that innovations are vital in addressing the challenges suffocating the country. “This is a strategic engagement for improving, augmenting, and scaling up innovations to enhance the accessibility of health services. Largely, Malawi is confronted with several challenges, be they health or economic, and they all need a combination of innovations to be solved,” noted Jamali.

The three-day event encompassed discussions, innovation training, and project pitching. Participants were challenged to create engineering prototypes (models for technologies) that could be utilised to address various public health shortcomings. During the final moments of day two, four innovation enthusiasts were selected to pitch their projects aimed at addressing public health concerns.

A trio from the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), led by Emmanuel Mtegha, a final-year biomedical engineering student, emerged victorious following a compelling pitch on a proposed innovation project. The final year MUST students are inventing a Mobile Internet of Things (IoT) Cold Storage Unit for Thermolabile Drugs in Malawi. The device will be crucial in storing and transporting temperature-sensitive drugs, such as vaccines, to remote health posts and clinics.

“We are very excited, grateful, and motivated at the same time. Knowing that our pitch won feels like an acknowledgement of our efforts and encourages us to keep striving for excellence. As students graduating this October, it is a blessing to be engaged at such a time to further our skills for better healthcare delivery in Malawi, which may also impact other low- and middle-income countries,” explained Mtegha.

A presentation on Biotechnology Intellectual Property Rights and Considerations in Malawi, delivered by Henry Chingota, the Director of Technology Transfer at the Malawi National Commission for Science and Technology, caught participants’ attention and sparked meaningful discussions within the innovation space.