The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
INNOVATORS are coming up with solutions key to solving some the country’s notable challenges in power generation and water reticulation.
In recent months President Mnangagwa has emphasized the importance of innovation hubs as an important vehicle for finding solutions to the country’s pressing problems as well as the attainment of the country’s economic blue-print National Development Strategy 1.
Various innovators at the recent National University of Science and Technology (Nust) Research and Innovation Expo 2021, said they were heeding by President Mnangagwa’s call for education to produce products that can be used to solve everyday problems.
The Expo was held as part of the University’s drive to promote innovations that can be up-scaled into commercial profitable businesses. It was organised by the Nust Innovation Hub in conjunction with the university’s Research and Internationalisation Office.
The annual Expo had been suspended last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been previously done in preparation for the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF). A total of 32 exhibitors showcased their innovative products and services this year.
Nust director of research and internationalisation, Professor Nkosikhona Hlabangani said with the innovations presented it showed that Government was doing well in their education 5.0 move which has motivated a lot of youths to innovate.
“President Mnangagwa once said education that does not deliver new products is dead. In other words, if at the end of the day we are churning out graduates who will start looking for jobs, I believe our curriculum and the way we teach has let us down. Once these projects are out, we need to market them locally and outside the country. This will also promote products exports once they get International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) quality standard certified thereby generating foreign currency for the country,” he said.
He however, said they were lacking in terms of internationalisation, and they were working on reviving collaborative efforts and student exchange with other institutions regionally and internationally.
Some of those who took part in the expo expressed hope that their innovations could be used at a bigger scale in solving some of the problems faced in the country, these ranging from electricity generation to water reticulation.
Mr Prosper Chikomo, a postgraduate student, said he was working on a five megawatt (MW) solar plant project which would cater for electricity challenges at the Nust campus. He said the start-up would meet the university campus solar needs first and foremost, and then developed to cater for a wider populace in the surrounding communities as well.
“Continuous power cuts have been the order of the day and these affect students’ studies on campus. Currently l am working on a distributed power plant which will see each building using rooftop solar to generate energy from a 5MW ground-mounted solar plant that will cost about US$ 5 million,” he said.
He said once the start-up could be scaled up it would allow for additional energy penetration and address the much needed 4 000MW to meet Zimbabwe’s power requirements.
A form four student at Founders High School, Mr Craig Mathuthu presented a prototype of a solar star battery.
He said: “The project l am working on is of a solar star battery that can generate electricity which can be used in a household. The battery can collect sunlight energy from any angle and can also generate power even on day when there is no sunlight. The energy store in the battery can be used for a number of days.”
To address the water challenges, another innovator, a former applied chemist student at Nust, Mr Fortune Donga, said he had developed a biomass fueled water pump.
“Biomass is a plant or animal material used as a fuel to produce energy. This innovation instantly converts biomass into fuel gas mixture for an engine and need for conventional petrol/ diesel is overridden. The engine of the prototype displayed can pump over 60 000 litres in an hour,” he said.
Mr Donga said his prototype was designed in such a way that the engine powered that way could be used for a generator, farm equipment (tractor) or mining equipment.
Other innovators presented innovative solutions meant to address health services, accommodation and transport challenges among others.
