Mauritius Research Council Workshop : bringing innovation to the forefront

Mauritius Research Council (MRC) Workshop on Promoting and Managing Innovation in Enterprises and Institutions: Finding novel ways which benefit innovation and enhance growth and competitiveness among SMEs and enterprises – this was the goal of the one-day workshop organised by the MRC on Thursday 1st March at Ebene. The main idea that emerged is that innovation is the key. 

An initiative of the Mauritius Research Council (MRC), the workshop on ‘Promoting and Managing Innovation in Enterprises and Institutions’ brought together over eighty local stakeholders including SMEs from various sectors, institutions and service providers from both the public and private sector. The event gave way to knowledge-sharing between experts of innovations and entrepreneurs wishing to undertake novel ways of doing business for more productive outcomes.

The workshop saw the presence of the Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms and Acting Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr Marie Cyril Eddy Boissézon and the chairperson of the MRC, Dr Michael Atchia. In his address, the Minister emphasised on the need for SMEs to innovate.

On the same line, Eddy Boissézon pointed out that innovation is vital for developing and sustaining competitive advantages and ensure future businesses for SMEs. The chairperson of the MRC, for his part, uttered that focus on projects which will have socioeconomic and industrial impact on people’s lives and, choosing clarity over certainty as certainty in science does not exist - are the two key points which are identified before approving research ventures.

The topics discussed during the workshop are: Tools and techniques to promote innovation and commercialisation; Training and mentoring of new ventures and SMEs through incubators; Linkages between enterprises and institutions; and, Accessing international innovation support systems. Several resource persons were also present at the workshop and addressed different themes. Key resource person of the workshop Jerry Godwin, Fullbright Specialist, intervened on the theme, ‘How do you build entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems?’.

He presented a case study of how to build an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem which focused on Washington DC (Government town) to a Regional Innovation Hub in Montgomery County, USA. “In 2006 I (as an entrepreneur) was approached by the local government to implement a programme to develop small businesses. I had 90 days to present the programme.

I took an inventory of the resources in Montgomery County region and then proposed a business incubator network to support two industry clusters... We took different agencies, companies and resources available and put them together in one graphic. We built a business incubator programme. The mission was to create the most business friendly environment that would help the local economy at the county level. The program was designed based on my experience as a failed entrepreneur and what I needed to access and have when I began early on (as an entrepreneur)...,” he explained.

Understanding the customer’s mindset

On his part, the Director of Turbine, Alam Kasenally, spoke about innovation on a budget. He stated that 9% of workforce in Singapore is included in Start-ups. “Singapore was much like Mauritius some years back and people did not go for STEM studies. But things change dramatically and most people now study engineering because it is the way to go.” He indicated that the two main reasons why SMEs have difficulties to start are insufficient finance and lack of time.

Speaking about how to get an innovation to succeed and how much innovation does one need, he indicated three major types of innovation namely Incremental Innovation, Adjacent Innovation and Disruptive Innovation.

“Everyone needs to think about innovation as a mindset, not only the founder or director but also employees and what underlies the innovative mindset is human centred design. This means empathising deeply with the users. Not what the entrepreneur wants to do or how the entrepreneur wants to make his/her money but what does the user (customer) wants... The key thing that successful innovators have understood is to spend money where your customers want to.”

Alam Kasenally indeed highlighted that the most important thing for a company is to understand the customers. “The whole company needs to concentrate on understanding the customers’ mindset, what are their fears, objectives. Having that empathy for the customers allows the company to innovate more quickly... In Mauritius it is especially possible because there are bright people everywhere but the fact is they are not in the best universities, they are in villages, in schools, in institutions but people do not pay attention to them. It should become like a culture to be thinking about the customer. Only when thinking about the customer that innovation can happen. There are companies around the world that know exactly how their customer feels and this is so important.”

He moreover points out that it is thus vital to create a culture of thinkers. “We need people who are very curious. We need an environment that fosters that curiosity where they can think or else they will become people that will just accept what people say, what their boss says. This must start at a very young age. It is the teachers and the parents who must do that.”

Development of business incubator at the University of Mauritius

Jerry Godwin highlighted that what is needed is a supporting ecosystem for entrepreneurs to grow in. He trusts that his example can definitely be replicated in Mauritius. The Fullbright Specialist is in fact providing guidance in the development of a business incubator at the University of Mauritius.

“That’s a good project but my recommendation is not just have a business incubator but using the resources of the University to create a business innovation network to support not just student projects but entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in Mauritius and the University is very open to that. One is to take advantage of the facilities at the University,” he stated.

He added that it is important to establish a culture of entrepreneurship in Mauritius. “Part of culture of entrepreneurship and innovation is to have a high acceptance for failure... It is part of the culture and no one should be marginalised for that.”

Krishnen Muthen, Web Multimedia Developer at the Centre for Innovative and Lifelong Learning at the University of Mauritius, who is the Coordinator of the business incubator project explained to us that the incubator is there to offer guidance to students who have bright ideas for businesses and entrepreneurship but do not have the tools and skills for that.

“We regroup all the resources one will need for entrepreneurship in the incubator. Through it, the student will have the necessary support to open his/her enterprise. For example, the student might get help from people in the different faculties to tackle different issues such as law and management or human resources and psychology. We are also aiming in helping entrepreneurs as well.”