The Harare Institute of Technology will host the third edition of the Technovation Expo on Friday 28 July 2017 at the HIT campus in Belvedere, from 9am to 4pm.
This year's edition is running under the theme "Designing the Future."
The Technovation Expo is primarily targeted at industry and commerce, public officials, policy makers, research and development institutions and practitioners as well as high school students.
HIT Vice Chancellor Engineer Quinton Kanhukamwe said the Technovation Expo is meant to expose future scientists and technologists to the various dimensions that science and engineering can take. "This exposure will help them to make a firm commitment to take up engineering and technology as careers," he said.
The expo will feature exhibitions with research and development outputs from HIT and other interested partners, as well as information on careers of the future. This year's expo will also provide a critical interface between the University and stakeholders from industry.
"In line with the new drive for Universities to play a meaningful role in the technological development of our country, we thought it prudent to create time to interact with our stakeholders from industry and commerce, and chart a way forward as to the joint responsibility we have in promoting development. Industry challenges and needs should drive our teaching and research agenda, so that we remain relevant and useful to our drive towards industrialisation and modernisation," said the Vice Chancellor.
The Technovation Expo showcases HIT's research and development outputs including intellectual property such as patents, industrial designs and utility models from HIT. The Expo also aims to:
The Expo provides a platform for a multiplicity of stakeholders in research and development, as well as policy makers to interact, share ideas and motivate each other to proffer solutions to the various technological challenges; while creating an environment for rapid industrialisation and modernisation.
It also provides companies/organisations in the science, engineering and technology sector with an opportunity to promote innovation and technoprenuership amongst Zimbabweans as a tool for economic revival and rapid industrialisation; while advancing the STEM initiative by showcasing Careers of the Future.
HIT successfully hosted the inaugural Technovation Day on Friday 19 June 2015, and the second edition on Friday 22 July 2016 in partnership with StarFM radio Station at the Institute campus with over 3000 high school students from across Zimbabwe, and over 20 organizations from industry and commerce.
In 2016, the event was held under the theme – "Disruptive Thinking, Big Ideas", a challenge to Zimbabweans to find innovative solutions to daily problems and create an environment for rapid industrialisation.
Most pupils who attended the previous editions said they were inspired by the Technovation Day because they learnt about the value and importance of being innovative. The companies and organisations were also impressed with the various technologies on display at the various HIT departments.
At the inaugural event, Gamuchirai Gutu from St Peter's Kubatana High School said she was inspired by the Technovation Day because she learnt the value and importance of being innovative. She highlighted the Biotechnology department as the most informative part of her tour. Both Brandon Gonora from St Peter's Kubatana and Mthando Magwaliba from Shungu High School were impressed with the various technologies on display at the Electronic Engineering department. "We have been inspired to come up with innovations so that we can help our communities," they said.
Some of the highlights of the Technovation Day exhibits include Clive Nyapokoto's Energy Globe award winning project called Vermicompost - Vermi-Aquaponics (VA) System. The project is designed to introduce a costless modern way of farming crops using aquatic waste without the need for fertilizers and fertile soils. Tapiwanashe Matangira grabbed the crowd's attention with his D. Rover project where he integrated modern robotics to build a wireless controlled vehicle toy through a well-developed mobile app. Tapiwanashe built the robotic toy from the waste card-box material powered by a cellphone battery.
Major highlights at this year's Technovation Expo include research outputs on renewable energy, indigenous knowledge systems, energy generation models, food processing technologies among others.
If you would like to participate at this year's Technovation Expo:
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