Kenya is seeking to build a clearer path for university research and locally developed technologies to reach the market, as government, academia and industry push to extract more commercial value from the country’s research base.
Researchers, universities, technical colleges, government agencies, standards bodies and private companies meeting in Nairobi said promising technologies frequently stall between the laboratory and the market because of gaps in financing, testing, certification, intellectual-property arrangements and access to industry.
The recommendations emerged from a Research, Innovation and Commercialisation Roundtable held at Weston Hotel as part of preparations for the Africa Technology Leadership Conference (ATLC), scheduled for Oct. 22–23 in Nairobi.
“We are producing knowledge. Do we have the talent and ideas? The answer is yes. The question is whether we can convert more of this knowledge, consistently and sustainably,” said Professor Shaukat Abdulrazak, principal secretary in the State Department for Science, Research and Innovation.
Kenya needs to demonstrate clearer economic and public returns from its investment in universities and research institutions by turning more research into enterprises, jobs and products, Abdulrazak said.
The meeting identified several bottlenecks, including limited interaction between researchers and companies during product development, fragmented access to laboratories and technical facilities, and funding gaps between proof of concept and commercialisation.
Participants proposed creating specialised clusters linking universities, research organisations, TVET institutions and companies around specific national and commercial problems. A national repository of researchers, facilities, expertise and research outputs was also proposed to make technical capabilities easier to identify and access.
Financing emerged as a particular concern. Rather than treating research funding as a single category, participants called for capital to be matched to development stages ranging from ideation and proof of concept to prototyping, validation, commercialisation and scale.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards urged innovators to address standards, testing and certification earlier in the product-development cycle. Participants said smaller institutions and startups often lack affordable access to testing and certification facilities, creating another barrier to market entry.
Intellectual-property ownership was also raised as an issue, with participants calling for clearer rules governing ownership and revenue-sharing between researchers, universities, students and private-sector partners.
“We are here to reflect and prepare ourselves to be part of the upcoming Africa Technology Leadership Conference in October by shaping what we want to find and what we want to give there,” said Professor Vasey N. Mwaja, chair of the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation.
Building a pipeline
The discussions will form part of a Kenyan position paper to be presented at the Africa Technology Leadership Conference 2026.
Participating institutions are expected to identify priority research areas, leading researchers, major facilities and promising technologies ahead of the conference. The information will be used to create an initial national inventory of research and technical capabilities.
Selected innovations will then be screened for potential engagement with investors, corporations and technical partners.
Organizers are proposing deal rooms and structured one-to-one meetings at ATLC to connect research projects with financing, testing facilities, technical expertise, commercial partners and distribution networks.
The participants also called for greater domestic financing of commercialisation through public funding, corporate investment, matching grants, blended finance and longer-term capital.
The effort comes as Kenya seeks to strengthen the link between its research institutions and the private sector, shifting the focus from producing research to developing technologies that can attract investment and generate commercial and public value.
Africa Technology Leadership Conference 2026
Oct. 22–23 | Argyle Grand Hotel, Nairobi
Speaker registration: ATLC 2026 Speaker Submission
