Innovation & Business Development

The Innovation and Technology Transfer section is responsible for identifying and protecting research innovations from the university and other community-driven inventions. It works in partnership with other institutions through Memorandums of Understanding and Memorandums of Agreements to foster the development and manufacture of new inventions. Working with the Zimbabwe Intellectual Property Organisation, ZIPO, it facilitates Intellectual Property Rights Protection through the identification and registration of potential novel inventions/developments. The section is the main link between the NUST Innovation Hub and investors and other funding agencies for supporting new developments through research in various areas such as engineering, software development, breaking new grounds in new designs in agriculture, applied biotechnologies, artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual, augmented and mixed realities, and other areas of researcher interests. The section is responsible for driving prototyping activities for the inventors under incubation and/or in operation at the Innovation Hub.         

The department managed to fully re-purpose the former Sanitiser Plant into a Detergents Plant. The new plant focuses on Industrial, Agricultural, Domestic and Medical detergents. With a decline in COVID-19 cases and the resultant decline in the sales of COVID-19-related products, it became apparent that a new product line be introduced. Thus a new drive to start production of products like the dishwasher, toilet cleaner, car shampoo, and multi-purpose cleaner, among other prototyped products.

The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development established the Bulawayo Technology Centre after the generous donation of equipment through the INDOZIM project. This gave an impetus to the institution to push forward the Heritage-based Education 5.0, with technology backing from this centre. The centre is a cornerstone for Technology Transfer and Engineering Production. Comprising four sections. It has the potential to propel the university to greater heights in technology transfer, collaboration and production. The sections are:

1. Tool and die-making shop (Machine shop)
2. Sheet metal working or fabrication shop
3. Food processing, comprising honey processing and fruit jam-making plants.
4. Plastic products manufacturing, comprising injection blow moulding and injection moulding.

The farm, located in Bulilima just after Solusi University,  was a generous donation from the government and is earmarked to be a centre for the Faculty of Agriculture. It is set to run as a commercial entity under the auspices of the Agricultural Industrial Park. This provides a whole value for the production systems of the farm in cattle, piggery, poultry and so on.