Clubs boosting students’ innovations

A mind able to dream, think, come up with ideas and innovate is a beautiful attribute for every student to have, and that is what many innovation clubs continue to boost. Inspiring students to think outside the box of the classroom, but go on to create items that are not only useful to them but to their communities, professional fields and the country in general.

To Denis Semyalo, a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering student at Makerere University, being in an innovation club trains students on how to transform their imagination into reality.

Semyalo is also one of the students in the ‘You innovate’ club that has innovated a Geographical Information System Software (ArcGis), an agricultural tool used to identify areas suitable for agriculture in western Uganda.

“Like any other innovation, this started as an idea after realising that many farmers in Uganda depend on prediction to farm,” he says.

With the analogy he had about geographical information systems, Semyalo was able to come up with an ArcGis software that has data on soil such as the soil type, climatic factors such as rainfall levels, topography, present land use and land cover, among others.

“The software is therefore helpful to one who wants to analyse a specific study area in western Uganda. The software provides data on those factors and pictures for a selected area. Additionally, it also has a tool that classifies the different geographical areas on their suitability for agricultural practices on a scale of; extremely suitable, very suitable, suitable, less suitable and not suitable in western Uganda,” he explains.
He further explains that this software is as a result of the desire to solve problems of farmers who do not have a standard method for identifying areas suitable for agriculture and continue to cultivate in the wrong places resulting into low yields.

Sharing about the progress of this innovation, Semyalo says, “I am currently showcasing and exhibiting my innovation on different platforms so that the stakeholders involved in agriculture are able to learn about it.”

Aside from Semyalo, Denis Tumusiime and Ivan Ojandu Mechanical Engineering finalists at Makerere University who are also members of the You Innovate Club agree that innovation clubs are the way to go for all students. This is manifest in their Hay baler innovation, a machine designed to bind/compress hay into bales.

“The normal hay baler is a big, expensive machine so what we had in mind was to create something that is cheap, portable, easy to use and can be used by substance farmers, small scale commercial farmers but also large scale commercial farmers,” Ojandu notes, explaining that hay itself has very many uses among which cushion for chicks, fodder for animals, making biogas but also can be used for mulching.

“Right now, we were able to get a volunteer to help us make a prototype but we had to first design it with software which would help us create the first prototype. The work of building it started about two weeks ago and we estimate that by the end of October, we should be done constructing the prototype,” he says. He, however, notes that the market for his technology is fragile since people do not know about the importance of the bales.

“We shall, therefore, start with sensitising people about the uses of hay and after we can then move on to selling and marketing the technology,” says Ojandu.

Why clubs
Simply defined, innovation clubs are normally associations that bring students together to inspire, train and nurture an innovative spirit among students. These might be for particular universities or jointly from all universities.

To Ojandu, innovation clubs are not only concerned with bringing up and supporting ideas of innovators but also a place to network with people from different walks of life; professionals in computer science, mechanical engineering, architecture, software engineering, book writers and mentors, among others. “It is more of a learning place because many things such as leadership, decision making, but also bonding with students from other universities,” he says.

Additionally, Semyalo notes that students have a very positive attitude towards innovation.

However, the curriculum does not train students to be innovative but rather teaches them to learn facts.

Adding value to communities
More than 290 young people including scientists, students, IT specialists, local health leaders and village health teams attended the 6th Annual CAMTech (Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies Uganda), hackathon was themed; ‘Innovating to improve community health services to attain Universal Health Coverage’ at Mbarara University of Science and Technology recently.

Kristian Olson of CAMTech Massachusetts General Hospital, said the platform is growing because people are increasingly getting passionate about innovation. “This is the highest number of pitches we have ever had; from 17 previously to 41. We are learning together and sharing solutions that add value to the community,” he said.

Some innovation clubs
• The Makerere Engineering Society for engineering students.
• Fund Africa Inc. – carries out trainings in Information Technology, 3D graphic animation, Graphic Designing, and other eLearning.
• Innovate Team - an online club the gives newsletters and advice in Q&A sessions, among others.