By Gilbert Akampa Kakurugu,
Mbarara
The event aimed at encouraging young innovators, providing them with a platform to enhance their skills, and inspiring them to come up with solutions to various healthcare challenges.
The event’s guest of honor, Prof William Bazeyo, emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship and urged student innovators to turn their ideas into business ventures. “No university in Uganda will survive without operating like a business entity,” he said.
He also encouraged the students to always ask for help and support whenever needed, adding that government funding was available for business startups and innovation.
The event’s highlight was the presentation by the students of various innovative solutions to healthcare challenges. The winners of the 9th Camteck hack-a-thon innovated a Mama Wear bra that detects breast cancer in at an early stage and were awarded cash prizes of 2.5 million Ugandan shillings.
The first runners up were team Breath Tracker” Their solution is aimed at early detection of asthma attacks to minimize death resulting from abrupt attacks. and the second runners were team Eco-detect ,their solution seeks to detect high concentrations of arsenic in food stuffs especially rice.
The State Minister for National Guidance, Godfrey Kabyanga, attended the event’s official opening ceremony and pledged to increase government funding for higher institutions of learning for research and development. He pointed out that increased funding would help universities to come up with more innovations that would benefit the economy and offer affordable healthcare services to low-income earners.
The minister also promised to revise any regulations that hinder the growth of science and technology in Uganda to enable local innovators to thrive and contribute to the country’s economic growth.
Dr. Data Santorino, the Director of Camtech Uganda, reiterated the importance of innovation in healthcare, saying that his organization was not only working to develop Mbarara University’s community but also inspire other institutions to develop solution-based approaches to healthcare challenges.
The hack-a-thon was attended by students and mentors from different Ugandan and Burundian universities. The event proved an excellent opportunity for young innovators to showcase their talent and highlight the critical role of innovation in solving healthcare problems and driving economic growth.
