NUST Wins Two Innovation Awards
NUST won the Organisational Growth in Innovation Management Award at the 2026 Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) Excellence Awards, while the NUST Innovation Hub (NUST-i) was recognised as Technology Transfer and Commercialisation Champion of the Year at the 2026 Africa Startup Ecosystem Builders (ASEB) Awards.
Held early in September 2026, the SARIMA award was presented during the Association’s Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. This accolade recognises organisational growth through creative, impactful approaches that strengthen innovation management capacity and support the progression of ideas towards practical application and commercialisation.
NUST-i Recognised
Complementing this regional achievement, NUST-i’s win at the recent ASEB 2026 Awards recently highlights the University’s growing contribution to technology transfer and commercialisation across Africa. The Hub won following its selection as an Official Top 5 Finalist from a pool of 1 786 nominations across the continent.
“Since establishing its innovation function in 2018, NUST has strengthened support for students, researchers and emerging entrepreneurs through entrepreneurship training, prototype development, intellectual property support and industry engagement,” said Valerie Garises, the Director of Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, in the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Development (DRIP).
Strengthening the Innovation Ecosystem
She further went on to explain that the transformation of the Namibia Business Innovation Institute into NUST-i has been central to this progress. Together with the FABlab and Innovation Design Lab, the Hub supports experimentation and the development of practical solutions. ICE-PIP strengthens entrepreneurial skills, while the All-4-One initiative provides seed funding for promising ideas and early-stage prototypes. “This award is a proud moment for our team and the NUST community. It reflects our collective effort to give promising ideas the support they need to develop into practical solutions. We look forward to building on this progress and helping more students and researchers turn their ideas into opportunities that benefit Namibia,” Garises said while reflecting on the awards.
Together, the SARIMA and ASEB awards celebrate the dedication of NUST’s staff, students, researchers and partners. They reinforce the University’s commitment to strengthening innovation management and helping ideas develop into practical solutions and commercial opportunities that benefit Namibia and the wider continent.
In 2022, NUST also made waves by being awarded the Organisational Growth in Research Management.
