HEI Innovation Practice
By Eyecity Africa

HEI Innovation Practice By EyeCity Africa is dedicated to empowering higher education institutions (HEIs) across Africa to drive impactful innovation and entrepreneurship. The Practice focuses on equipping African HEIs with the knowledge and skills to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship across Africa, thereby shaping a prosperous future for Africans. We have improved the capacities of 180+ HEIs from over 40 African countries through capacity-building workshops on establishing and maintaining HEI ESOs, securing funding for academic innovations, designing capacity-building programs for young student entrepreneurs and technology transfer.

Our Approach

Community Building
Launching Targeted Innovation Programs
Ecosystem Building and Needs Assessment
Strategic Planning and Development
Innovation Programs and Technology Transfer
Funding Structure & Support

Our Programs

Quarterly Webinars
‍Our quarterly webinars bring together higher education institution leaders, ecosystem enablers, researchers, and policymakers to discuss emerging trends, challenges, and best practices in higher education innovation. These sessions serve as knowledge-sharing platforms, spotlighting successful models and providing practical insights on topics such as funding, technology transfer, and inclusive innovation within African HEIs.
Research Reports
‍We produce high-quality research reports that provide evidence-based insights into the state of innovation and entrepreneurship across African higher education. These reports cover topics such as institutional readiness, gender inclusion, skills alignment, and policy recommendations.

Community Feedback

I gained an understanding of the various actors that support HEI-based Entrepreneurial Support Organisations (ESOs) and the different models, such as the Open System Model and the Descriptive Model, used to build and sustain effective ESOs and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EEs). Additionally, the case study of Ashesi University's entrepreneurial ecosystem provided a practical and tangible example, offering valuable insights that we can consider when developing a similar model at our own institution.
- Samson Zerihun, Assistant Professor, Wollo University, Ethiopia.‍
Securing funds for HEI activities demands strategic planning, collaboration, and teamwork; you simply cannot navigate this space alone. Business modelling was a major takeaway for me, as aligning financing with the HEI's growth phase provided clear added value.
- Betsy Wanjala,  Innovation Mentor, Open University of Kenya, Kenya.

Past Events