Professor Alice Constance Mensah, Principal Investigator, Africa Health Research and Innovation Project (AHRIP), says the Accra Technical University (ATU) has received a grant of $160,000 to scale up innovative projects developed by its students.

The grant will help ATU establish an Innovation Hub Centre to develop and mentor the creativity of students.

Prof Mensah said this at the launch of phase two of the Africa Health Research and Innovation Project in Accra.

Under the first phase, ATU, in collaboration with the Design Thinking Ghana Hub, secured a $152,869 grant from UKaid through the Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) Fund.

The project aims to bridge the gap between research and development in the health sector to solve real-world challenges and harness the talents of young emerging leaders in health innovations. 

The first phase of the project saw some students at ATU who have designed groundbreaking innovations to improve healthcare delivery in the country. 

Some of the innovations included a blood warmer, thermoelectrical vaccine carrier, dehumidifier, oxygen bags and vest, potable dialysis machine, aerospray vacuum stainer, and auto-bin waste segregator, among others.

Out of the 175 students who participated in the project, 22 prototypes of the innovations were selected and displayed at the innovation fair of the Africa Health Research and Innovation project.

Prof Mensah, who is also Dean, Faculty of Applied Science, ATU, said the grant was given because of the innovative projects developed by the students under the first phase of the project.

The Professor said phase two of the project would train some staff of the University in innovation and select 17 prototypes for scale-up.

That, she stressed, would help sustain the project, urging the students to take advantage of the opportunity to enhance their creative skills.

Prof Amevi Acakpovi, Acting Vice-Chancellor, ATU, said phase two of the project was part of the University’s strategic plan to establish an incubation centre to promote critical thinking and innovation.

The incubation centre, he said, would provide some form of mentorship and training to students to transform their prototypes into a viable enterprise for commercialisation.

The Vice-Chancellor expressed excitement that the projects developed by the students would project the image of the University on an international pedestal.

Prof Acakpovi advised the students to give their best and crack their brains to be selected from the competition.

Dr Archibald Amoah Dankwah, Project Coordinator, said the students would be taken through principles of prototyping and guidance on how teams could recreate their designs.