The C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) has been selected for funding under the Enterprise Support and Incubation Curriculum Development (ESICD) project funded by the British Council. The grant award was made for the establishment of an Innovation Hub under the Professional Information Technology Training and Business Incubation Centre (PITTBIC) in the School of Computing and Information Sciences (SCIS).
The award ceremony (which was part of an induction programme) took place at the University of Ghana Business School, Legon, organised by the Tertiary Hubs Innovation and Knowledge (THINK) Network. Present at the awards ceremony were Professor Albert Luguterah, Vice Chancellor of CKT-UTAS; Dr. Callistus Ireneous Nakpih, Team Lead of the grant project and Coordinator of PITTBIC; Dr. Bright Nana Kwame Ahia, Team Member of the grant project and the Training and Development Unit Head of PITTBIC; and Mr. Valentine Aveyom, Team Member of the grant project and the ICT Unit Head of PITTBIC.
The Vice Chancellor of CKT-UTAS graced the ceremony with a keynote to managers of tertiary institutions to continuously make efforts to bridge the gap between the training of students and their professional practice since most of the students come to the universities without proper guidance for selecting their courses.
The VC also noted existing efforts made at CKT-UTAS through similar entrepreneurial and innovation events; particular emphasis was made on the participation and four-times consecutive national championship of CKT-UTAS students in the ENACTUS programme, to underscore the seriousness and successes of the university in integrating entrepreneurial and experiential learning into the training of its students.
The proposed Innovation Hub which won the grant for CKT-UTAS is intended to be a gender-responsive and inclusive platform that promotes collaboration among students, researchers, academics, industry players, and entrepreneurs from different backgrounds, to share creative and innovative ideas that are compelling for dealing with real-life problems.
The mission of CKT-UTAS is to provide quality higher education, research, knowledge generation, and dissemination with an emphasis on basic and applied sciences and mathematics for the socio-economic development of Ghana and beyond. The Innovation Hub will therefore contribute to the achievement of this mission by giving students the opportunity to apply their academic knowledge to generate new and innovative ideas that are tailored towards addressing some of the socio-economic needs of Ghana.
Students will have an opportunity to turn their ideas into practical inventions that can be tested and transformed into operational businesses. The opportunity for students to interact with faculty members, other researchers, and industry players will broaden their knowledge and skill-set for creating brilliant solutions, compelling them to be agents of change in society as required by the strategic mandate of the university.