Main Duties of Department
- To coordinate all innovative development projects at OUT
- To coordinate practical-oriented training and quality education in entrepreneurship and innovation to student and staff
- To coordinate OUT, Private sector and Government collaboration endeavours
- To establish and oversee incubation services to all sectors of economy
- To coordinate business counselling services to SMEs
- To promote Innovation and entrepreneurship knowledge management
- To ensure that research outputs such as technologies, processes, approaches and products from faculties/Institutes/directorates of OUT contribute significantly in creation of new economic activities in Tanzania.
- To put in place mechanisms that allow academic staff, graduates and individuals to convert their research outputs and/or business ideas to commercial companies.
- To establish and oversee a proper licensing system including Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime that would assist the promotion of effective commercialization of research outputs to encourage and reward innovation by Research and Development Institutions.
- To develop entrepreneurship knowledge, skills and competencies of academic staff, students and business people to create opportunities for self-employment and start-up businesses.
- To identify new markets based on research, thus creating new enterprises based on priority areas that could bring impact to socio-economic development of the country including diversifying of rural economies.
- To attract investment in innovation and commercialization of research results by creating funding mechanisms (Product Development Fund) while increasing the scope and size of risk capital in the country.
- To collaborate with various experts in innovation and technology transfer world-wide to nurture innovation, entrepreneurship, intellectual property rights and technology evaluation.
- To perform any other tasks as assigned by your supervisors