Rwanda Innovation Challenges for Academia-Industry Research and Development Collaboration Grant (RIC- R&D)
Rwanda Innovation Challenges for Academia-Industry Research and Development Collaboration Grant (RIC- R&D)
Project Phases:
Phase I: Development, testing and implementation of R&D ideas that have commercialization & technology absorption potential. Funding of up to 90 million Frw for a period of 12 to 18 months.
Phase II: Scaling up projects that have already achieved proof of concept during phase 1. Funding between 300-500 million Frw for up to 5 years (60 months).
Background:
The Government of Rwanda through the National Strategy for Transformation (NST-1) and Vision 2050 envisions the need for Rwanda to promote Research, Development and Innovation, as a key enabler for national economic and social transformation especially in the area of technology for industrial development.
The Rwanda National Research and Experimental Development (R&D) survey conducted in 2021 for the reference year 2018/2019, affirmed a persistent common challenge of limited collaboration between academic and research institutions and the industry/private sector. Moreover, in terms of type of research conducted, there was a notable increase in both basic and applied research and a decline in experimental development in 2018/2019. In fact, the proportional share of expenditure allocated to the experimental development decreased from 55.64% in 2015/2016 to 24.65% in 2018/2019. This makes it difficult for Rwanda to tap into opportunities to use technology development to create prototypes and innovations, create new services and products, support industrial growth, create jobs and impact the labour market. This is in line with the 2020 Global Innovation Index Report which has shown that Rwanda performed better in innovation inputs (79th out of 131 countries) than innovation outputs (112th out of 131 countries). As a recommendation, the government should work hand in hand with the private sector to promote academia-industry collaboration for the up-take of collaborative experimental R&D projects leading to innovative technology development relevant to community needs.
Therefore, in an effort to boost experimental development through collaboration between academia and industry; NCST is establishing a “Rwanda Innovation Challenges for Academia-Industry Research and Development Collaboration Grant (RIC-R&D)” scheme that will be jointly co-funded through the National Research and Innovation fund (NRIF) and Industry and Private Sector collaboration with at least 20% additional resources. The Grant is envisaged to provide funding opportunities with an aim of promoting knowledge transfer partnerships among industry/private sector and academia through development and implementation of special Research and Development (R&D) projects leading to innovative solutions in key priority areas. This will be a two-phase funding activity. In the first phase, funding will be provided for innovative projects development and piloting/testing with industry. By end of Phase I, projects that have demonstrated proof of concept of the innovative idea, have developed preliminary results and feasible plans for scaling up and sustainability of the project as well as have attracted commitments and interests from stakeholders will be invited to apply for the funding in the second phase.