CAMTech Uganda
CAMTech Uganda and MUST have created an innovation ecosystem that is steadily growing an innovation pipeline at MUST. In order to achieve CAMTech’s mission of building entrepreneurial capacity and accelerating medical technology development, this ecosystem is currently composed of:
Co-Creation Lab
The CAMTech Co-Creation Lab was officially launched on the eve of the August 2014 Hack-a-thon by Professor FIB. Kayanja (MUST Vice Chancellor) and Dr. David Bangsberg. Following the Co-Creation Lab launch, CAMTech MUST held an East African dance celebration in the rain.
The Co-Creation Lab is a hub for all innovation activities supported by CAMTech. The lab supports new ideas generated by participants, provide support for rapid prototyping and serve as a physical work space for teams to develop projects as well as receive mentorship.
Innovation Café
Through the Innovation Cafés, students, MUST professors and clinicians work together to identify clinical challenges and collaborate to solve pain points. These challenges have included monitoring of physiological parameters, drug adherence, hospital sanitation, and identifying high-risk labor and child deliveries.
Innovator-in-Residence Program
The CAMTech Innovator-in-Residence Program (IIR) provides a critical mentoring service in developing the Mbarara, Uganda, innovation ecosystem. Mentorship builds capacity for Ugandan entrepreneurs, students and faculty and pro- vides an opportunity for IIRs to be ambassadors once they return home. IIRs guide early-stage innovations, participate in local hack-a-thons, host seminars and lectures, and engage with entrepreneurs working on scalable, sustainable technologies.
Each IIR is expected to develop a comprehensive and actionable plan that details the lessons learned from his or her residency in Mbarara upon completion of the program. IIRs may also bring a project or technology of their choosing to work on during their stay in the Co-Creation Lab in Mbarara.
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Medtech Hack-a-thons
CAMTech Uganda Medtech Hack-a-thons are 48-hour catalytic events that bring together clinicians, engineers, entrepreneurs, industry experts and end-users to co-create and crowd-source innovations for pressing clinical needs and barriers to care Uganda. These collaborative and entrepreneurial initiatives serve as open innovation platforms for a global community of clinicians, engineers, entrepreneurs, industry experts and end-users to co-create new technologies and business models over a 48-hour period. Teams—through cross-disciplinary collaboration, mentorship, time/resource constraints and award incentives—can accelerate ideas into breakthrough innovations that have the potential to shift the paradigm of global health around the world.