Project Background 

Universities today are challenged to produce graduates who are practical, creative, and relevant. Students therefore ultimately need a conducive and enabling environment; greater access to opportunities, mentorship, the right combination of skills, knowledge, and attitudes, and the wisdom to utilize technological and other innovations to achieve desired goals.

The recent global challenges have increasingly positioned digital innovation as the main driver of self-job creation, a fortified of work systems, and the desired inclination to new approaches in what has now been dubbed the new normal.

The multidisciplinary Digital Innovation Praxis Challenge, in response to the above expectations, seeks to challenge UCU students to create, innovate, promote development, improve access to information, harness new technologies for business processes, and fashion a better and more efficient standard of life for themselves and for their communities.

To realize this ambitious goal, a Call for Ideas was made, where different multi-disciplinary teams submitted (proposed) ideas. These teams have been subjected to thorough scrutiny, including an internal pitch as a prerequisite for them to stand a chance to be pre-selected to join the “Design Sprint” where they will work together with trained coaches to develop, refine and redesign their ideas, solutions or approaches.

At a special Pitch Event due March 11, 2022, teams will present their fully developed innovation ideas, and stand a chance to win wads of cash and also a 9-month Mentorship Program opportunity.

The Digital Praxis is the first of its kind at UCU and is the result of a collaboration between three UCU-based entities; Honours College, School of Business, and the Department of Computing Science.