Kabarak University (KABU) recently hosted a delegation from the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA) for a crucial self-review session assessing the university's innovation and commercialization capabilities. This rigorous session is part of KeNIA's Institutional Support (IS) Program, which aims to enhance research and innovation commercialization in universities. Held at the KABU Conference, the session underscores KABU's commitment to translating its research outputs into tangible socio-economic value.

The visiting team was expertly led by KeNIA’s Commercialization and Innovation Manager, Mr. Ian Korongo, along with other facilitators who conducted an insightful presentation and Q&A session. During the session, various aspects that need to be aligned for successful innovation and research commercialization within the university were discussed. The primary focus of the day was the Entrepreneurial Institutions Maturity Framework (EIMF). This session provided the KABU team with a structured approach to evaluate the university's current commercialization status and establish clear roadmaps for advancing towards becoming a fully entrepreneurial institution, a leader in technology transfer and intellectual property development.

The internal KABU team, led by the Director of Research, Innovation, and Outreach, Dr. Philip Otieno Nyawere, fully engaged in the intense self-evaluation exercise. The team was pleased to be guided through this rigorous process, which included a detailed review of results to discuss institutional strengths, weaknesses, and gaps. This will be followed by training on developing an innovation master plan, guided by the EIMF, focusing on strategies to address the gaps, strengthen the weaknesses, and build on the strengths identified during the assessment.