Prof. Mandeep Kaur, the Assistant-Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Science, opening the first Science Faculty Innovation Day on 29 October 2025.
Led by the Angela and David Fine Chair of Innovation, this side of the WIC undertakes research into African-focused innovation and runs the interdisciplinary Postgraduate Diploma (Science) in the field of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, as well as short courses and workshops directed at Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ staff and students. Further more, the research and development engagement of the WIC, the Chair also runs a university seminar series and the more popular audience-focused Innovation with Boundaries podcast video series.
The Innovation & Society Research Seminars bring together researchers and academics from both Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ and other universities to share research at monthly discussion sessions and to jointly publish their findings on the WIC website.
The series will be piloted in 2025 with seminars in September, October and November.
Building Digital Infrastructure Systems for Research Virtualisation (Platformisation)
Digital research infrastructure, including national and regional research and education networks (NRENs and RRENs), provide the conduits for storing and analysing research data and sharing a range of outputs from traditional scholarly publications to contemporary data virtualisation and visualisation. Filling the pipes with valuable content relies on what research communities produce and on funding of the regional and global interconnection of academic and research networks. The digital infrastructure and the research content are only valuable when they create meaningful effects in the development of fauna, flora, human society and economies, each of these having the broadest range of meaning. In the large African research system, NRENs and RRENs service universities, colleges and science institutions at a regional scale. Trends show advances in platformisation services in dominant areas of African research production, including climate change and health surveillance, both data intensive fields of study relevant to continental-scale innovation.
This presentation briefly examines.
Analytical perspective: Promoting research virtualization, and transitioning to visualization, to visibility and to research value.
The NREN and RREN landscape for African universities (infrastructure for virtualization, strengths and weaknesses).
The shift towards digital research platforms in African countries creating the basis for virtualization and multi-party collaborative computation to make scientific breakthroughs
Domain specific use cases (biodiversity and climate change, digital humanities, health surveillance) from selected African countries (Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa) illustrate the importance of data and visibility.
Concluding discussion on pivoting to data-science-as-a-service (DaaS) as a means to advancing university-based research production.
[PDF].
Delivered by Prof. Luci Abrahams, LINK Centre, Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½.
The Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ Innovation Centre brings you bold conversations with thinkers, doers, and disruptors shaping the future of innovation in Africa and beyond. We’ll unpack what innovation really looks like across disciplines, sectors, and cultures and what role African universities can play in driving change that’s inclusive, socially responsive, and future-focused. If you’re curious about how ideas become impactful, this is your space.
The Innovation Without Boundaries Video Podcast Series is created and hosted by the Acting Angela and David Fine Chair of Innovation, Prof. Christo Doherty, with support from Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ Marketing and production by Elna Schütz.
At the WIC, we offer the interdisciplinary Postgraduate Diploma (Science) in the field of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Currently available as a full-time, one-year programme of study, and taught by staff from a range of facilities, this degree prepares students to become successful research innovators and entrepreneurs.
