Kenya’s research and innovation community has identified a series of priorities aimed at moving locally developed knowledge, prototypes and technologies from research institutions into commercial use.
The priorities emerged from the Research Innovation and Commercialisation Roundtable held at Weston Hotel in Nairobi as part of preparations for the Africa Technology Leadership Conference (ATLC) 2026.
The meeting brought together representatives from public and private universities, TVET institutions, national research organisations, government agencies, standards bodies and the private sector to examine challenges that often prevent promising innovations from progressing beyond the research and prototype stages.
Participants highlighted gaps between research, validation, certification, financing and market entry. They called for stronger systems that involve industry earlier, provide funding at different stages of development and prepare innovations for standards approval and commercial scale.
Professor Shaukat Abdulrazak, Principal Secretary in the State Department for Science, Research and Innovation, said Kenya has the talent and ideas needed to generate knowledge, but needs stronger mechanisms to consistently convert that knowledge into enterprises, jobs, products and measurable public benefits.
A key priority was strengthening collaboration between academia, research institutions, TVETs and industry around clearly defined national and commercial challenges. Participants also proposed focused institutional clusters supported by a national repository containing information on expertise, facilities and research outputs.
Access to shared laboratories and testing facilities was identified as another requirement, particularly for smaller institutions and innovators.
Participants also called for a financing pathway that recognises the different stages of technology development, including ideation, proof of concept, prototyping, validation, commercialisation and scale. This approach would allow financing instruments to be better aligned with the risks and capital requirements associated with each stage.
Standards, metrology, regulation and intellectual property were also highlighted as areas that should be addressed early in product development rather than after a prototype has been completed. The Kenya Bureau of Standards emphasised the importance of considering standards from the concept stage, while participants called for affordable testing support to help innovators meet compliance requirements.
The roundtable further identified intellectual property ownership and benefit-sharing as areas requiring greater clarity. Clearer arrangements could provide researchers, institutions, students and commercial partners with greater certainty when developing and commercialising technologies together.
TVET institutions were also identified as important participants in the commercialisation ecosystem. ATLC 2026 is expected to provide opportunities for selected innovations to connect with investors and corporate partners through deal rooms and structured one-to-one engagements.
The roundtable will contribute to a Kenyan position paper for ATLC 2026, scheduled for October 22–23 at Argyle Grand Hotel in Nairobi.
Ahead of the conference, participating institutions are expected to identify their leading research areas, researchers, facilities and promising innovations for an initial national capability inventory. A first portfolio of innovations will then be screened for potential engagement with investors, companies and technical partners.
The proposed deal-room model is intended to connect selected projects with financing, testing facilities, commercial expertise and distribution partnerships.
Participants also called for increased domestic financing through public funding, industry investment, matching grants, blended finance and long-term capital aligned with different stages of technology development.
Professor Vasey N. Mwaja, Chair of NACOSTI, said the roundtable was intended to help stakeholders prepare for ATLC 2026 by defining what Kenya wants to identify and contribute at the conference.
ATLC 2026 is expected to bring together government, academia, research organisations, industry, investors, innovators and international partners to discuss Kenya’s technology priorities and investable opportunities.
