Globally, higher education institutions (HEIs) are recognised as engines of knowledge creation, innovation, and skill development. The African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 emphasises the central role of HEIs as essential contributors to building the Africa we desire. The East African Community (EAC) Vision 2050, in alignment with the continental Agenda, prioritises the development of a knowledge-based economy driven by industrialisation, innovation, and research-led solutions to socio-economic challenges.
The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), the EAC institution responsible for coordinating higher education and research, has taken a leading role in operationalising these goals. Among the IUCEA’s strategic priorities are to strengthen academia–industry linkages and foster regional research excellence. IUCEA has been implementing initiatives to promote collaboration between universities and the private sector, including the biennial regional Academia-Public-Private Partnership Forum (APPPF). To complement the ongoing initiatives, IUCEA has also been developing, sharing and advocating for supportive and guiding frameworks such as the Research Excellence Framework for Higher Education in East Africa (2024), which provides a structured mechanism for supporting, assessing and rewarding high-impact research across universities, with emphasis on collaborations and multi-stakeholder engagement.
This call, while grounded on the global, continental and regional development agenda, is designed to catalyse university-industry collaboration in order to drive innovation, support industrial development, respond to market needs, and ultimately contribute to the transformation of the East African region. The Call is therefore a supportive initiative envisioned to be a scale-up mechanism for linking university with industry in a purposeful and policy-aligned manner.
Rationale
The gap between knowledge generation in universities and practical application in the private sector remains significant across the region despite various strategic and policy commitments. Most of the research outputs and innovations developed from academic institution settings struggle to reach the market or to be impactful to the society due to weak institutional linkages, the absence of structured technology transfer mechanisms, and limited funding for collaborative initiatives.
This call is structured to respond to the need for systematic, well-resourced collaboration frameworks that bring universities and industry partners together to create, test, and commercialise innovations. Implementation of this call will therefore focus on initiatives that strengthen university-industry collaborations, including collaborative capacity-building initiatives, linkage of students and researchers to the industry, and collaboration in product development and improvement. TThe implemented initiatives will serve as a multiplier to translate policies into action and transform prototypes into scalable products and services.
TThe commitment to strengthening university–industry collaboration aligns with the recommendations made to IUCEA from stakeholders engaged in various academia-public-private partnership forums and aims to contribute to translating policy calls on academia-industry partnerships into actionable steps. IIt is anticipated that these actions will enable the EAC region to celebrate, in the long term, the benefits and impacts of strengthened systems for university–industry collaboration, enhanced knowledge transfer, joint intellectual property development, and improved research and innovation ecosystems.
Objectives of the Call
The main objectives of this call are to:
- Support the development and enhancement of systems for university–industry collaboration.
- Build capacity and enhance sustainable linkages between academia and industry.
- Improve knowledge and technology transfer, as well as joint product development and commercialisation of research outputs.
Priority Thematic Areas
Proposal must align with one or more of the following priority sectors:
- Agri-tech and food systems
- AI and digital technologies
- Renewable energy and green technologies
- Health and pharmaceutical technologies
- Blue economy management
Initiatives to be Covered
The call will focus on supporting initiatives with activities that will contribute to building and strengthening systems for university-industry collaboration, enhancing linkages and capacity building of students and researchers, and improving knowledge and technology transfer, joint product development, and commercialization of research output.
The activities will include:
- Development of institutional policy or framework for university-industry engagement, technology transfer, or research commercialisation (e.g. stakeholder consultation or focus group discussions with industry representatives and government agencies to identify gaps and expectations, and to gather feedback on the draft policy or framework; awareness and sensitization sessions across departments and faculties, among others).
- Collaborative university-industry capacity building initiatives (e.g. Joint seminars or programs by practitioners on specific issues for strengthening teaching, research and innovation; career development and mentorship forums/sessions by industry practitioners; establishment of industrial advisory committee for specific programs; and curriculum review meetings with industrial advisory committee, among others).
- Linkage of students and researchers to the industry (e.g. coordinated industry learning visits that will provide hands on training and industry experiences; collaboration forums or expos with industry partners).
- Joint product development and/or improvement in the priority sectors outlined in Section 4.0 of this call (e.g. Jointly developing prototypes; co-designing solutions with industry experts; setting up shared innovation spaces for testing and development, etc).
Eligibility Criteria
- Lead Applicant must be an academic staff or a researcher affiliated to a recognised/accredited public or private degree-awarding institution, which is a member of IUCEA, herein referred to as the academic institution.
- Industry partner should be a legally incorporated company, registered small and medium enterprise (SME), or registered startup within the East Africa region, and operating in any of the priority sectors specified in Section 4.0 of this call.
- Both parties (academic institution and industry partner) must demonstrate collaboration commitment (e.g., Evidence of MoU that highlights specific area of collaborations in regard to the project, letters of support, resource sharing, co-funding in-kind or in cash, etc).
- Evidence of academic institutional leadership support: The proposal must be submitted with a support letter signed by the head of academic institution.
Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
| Criteria | Weight |
| Relevance to a priority sector and potential impact to the sector. | 10 % |
| Applicability and demonstrated potential for:
· Building and strengthening systems for university-industry collaboration. · Enhancing linkages and capacity building of students and researchers. · Improving knowledge and technology transfer, joint product development, and commercialization of research output. |
30 % |
| Demonstrated impact on staff and students’ capacity development and skills transfer. (e.g. Expected number of students/researchers to be trained or linked with industry, industry experts to be engaged, products to be development/improved.) | 30 % |
| Demonstrated strength and sustainability measures for the university-industry collaboration initiative beyond project implementation. | 15 % |
| Budget clarity and value for money | 10% |
| Inclusivity considerations (Demonstrated measures to ensure inclusivity in terms of gender, age and persons with disabilities during the implementation of the proposed initiatives/activities) | 5% |
Funding Details
- The grant will cover initiatives with activities that will contribute to building systems for university-industry collaboration, enhancing linkages and building capacity of students and researchers, and improving knowledge and technology transfer, joint product development and commercialisation of research output, as highlighted in the section “Initiatives to be Covered” of this call.
- The grant will not cover costs related to thesis and paper publications and travel participation costs to scientific conferences/workshops nationally, regionally, or internationally.
- The grant will be disbursed to successful applicants through their institutional bank account.
Submission Guidelines
All proposals must be submitted electronically. The required documents include:
- Complete the online application form at this link: APPLICATION FORM: PROPOSAL TO STRENGTHEN UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION IN EAST AFRICA
- Key documents to be submitted in PDF format via email to research@iucea.org
- Detailed Proposal (comprisingBackground and Rationale; Objectives; Activities and Methodology; Expected Outputs, Outcomes and Impact; sustainability Measures; Inclusivity Measure).
- Detailed Budget Breakdown in USD (Providing different columns that outlines the Budget item; Description of the item; Amount requested in the proposal; and Cost-sharing, co-funding or In-kind Contribution to the project. Whereby the cost-sharing, co-funding, or In-kind Contribution is well explained in the footnote of the table)
- Letter of Support from the academic institution (signed by the Head of Institution)
- CVs of Lead applicants and Key Team Members.
- A copy of the signed MoU or commitment document supporting the partnership/collaboration with the industry (jointly signed between the institution and the industry partner).
- A copy of evidence of incorporation or registration of the industry partner.
Timeline
| Activity | Date |
| Call Launch | 04 October 2025 |
| Webinar for Information Sharing (Click here to register for the webinar ) | 20 November 2025 |
| Deadline for Submissions | 26 January 2026 |
| Notification of Successful Applicants | 27 February 2026 |
| Award | 16 March 2026 |
NB: Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
Reporting
Upon disbursement of funds, successful applicants will be required to submit feedback and reports as follows:
- Successful applicants should send a letter of acknowledgement of receipt of funds in the institutional account, endorsed by the head of the institution, not later than six (6) weeks upon fund disbursement.
- Successful applicants should submit the first progress report at the end of six (6) months upon fund disbursement.
- Successful applicants should submit the final report at the end of twelve months upon fund disbursement.
- The progress and final reports should highlight the key achievements while clearly outlining the key performance indicators (KPIs).
- The KPIs are dependent on proposed activities in a specific proposal. Hence, the possible list of KPIs includes, but is not limited to:
- Number of students/researchers (disaggregated by gender) placed in industry attachments.
- Number of joint university–industry events.
- Number of joint capacity-building sessions/workshops conducted.
- Number of industry practitioners engaged in teaching or research activities.
- Number of participants trained (disaggregated by gender).
- Number of stakeholder consultations held.
- Number of institutional frameworks/policies developed or updated.
- Number of training modules or curricula updated with industry input.
- Number of joint R&D projects initiated.
- Number of prototypes, products, or services co-developed.
- Number of innovation spaces or labs established.
- Amount of funding or resources mobilized beyond grant.
- Number of innovations adopted by industry or commercialized.
- Amount/value of co-investment from industry partners.
- What is the purpose of this call? This call aims to strengthen university–industry collaboration in East Africa by supporting initiatives that enhance research application, innovation, knowledge transfer, and product development between academia and industry partners.
- Which initiatives are supported under this call? The call supports initiatives that build or strengthen university–industry collaboration systems, enhance capacity and linkages between students, researchers, and industry, and promote joint product development and technology transfer. Examples include developing institutional frameworks or policies for engagement, conducting joint training or mentorship programs, linking students to industry placements, and co-developing prototypes or innovations.
- Who can apply? The lead applicant must be an academic staff member or researcher at a recognised IUCEA membership institution.
- Can one apply and submit a proposal without an industry partner? No, the lead applicant MUST indicate and provide evidence of collaboration with an industry partner.
- Can a lead applicant submit more than one proposal? No, each lead applicant should fill in only one form and submit only one proposal.
- Who is an industry partner? An industry partner must be a legally registered company/organization, SME, or startup operating in East Africa within one of the prioritised thematic areas/sectors of the call.
- What are the prioritised thematic areas/sectors of the call? The five prioritised thematic areas/sectors of the call are
- Agri-tech and food systems,
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital technologies,
- Renewable energy and green technologies,
- Health and pharmaceutical technologies, and
- Blue economy management.
- Can an industry partner be the lead applicant? No, the lead applicant MUST be an academic staff member or researcher in a recognised IUCEA member institution.
- Can the lead applicant identify and indicate collaboration without proof of collaboration? No, the lead applicant must provide a copy of institutional signed MoU or commitment document between the academic institution and the industry partner.
- Can the lead applicant submit a proposal without providing any institutional support document? No, a letter of support signed by the head of the academic institution is required to confirm institutional support.
- What kind of activities are funded? Funding will support activities that build university–industry collaboration systems, enhance linkages, strengthen collaborative capacity building, and promote joint product development and commercialisation.
- What costs are NOT covered? The grant will not fund thesis- or academic publication-related costs or travel costs for participation in or paper presentations at national, regional, or international conferences.
- Will the funds be disbursed into the lead applicant’s personal account? No, funds for the successful applications will be disbursed to the approved institutional bank account of the academic institution.