–at the Institute for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s second exhibition at Turkeyen Campus

THE University of Guyana’s (UG) Institute for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (UGIRIE) will be hosting its Second Exhibition of Innovations from Thursday, October 17 to Saturday, October 19 at the University’s Multipurpose Centre at the Turkeyen Campus.
According to a press release from the university, over 40 innovations and applied research projects will be on display this year.

The highly anticipated three-day event will give University of Guyana’s researchers, students, entrepreneurs, and innovators an opportunity to showcase their works to the general public, collaborate with other researchers, explore business opportunities, and engage with potential sponsors.
The event is largely face-to-face, will be free and open to the general public from 10:00 hrs. to 17:00 hrs. on Thursday, 9:00 hrs. to 17:00 hrs. on Friday, and 9:00 hrs. to 12:00 hrs. on Saturday.

The opening ceremony, which will be held on Thursday at 9:00 hrs. at the University’s Education Lecture Theatre and will also be streamed via the University’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uniofguyana.
Additionally, the exhibition will be aired virtually on the University’s Facebook on Friday from 10:30 am to 12:00 hrs.

Among the persons expected to deliver presentations at the opening ceremony are the Minister of Education, Dr. Priya Manickchand; Vice-Chancellor Professor Paloma Mohamed Martin, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Guyana Initiative (GGI), and Director of UGIRIE, Professor Patsy Francis.

Innovators are expected to showcase their work in climate smart applications, food science technology, coconut technology, renewable resources, biotechnology applications, ICT applications, and newly published books, among others.
The selected innovations are aimed at stimulating scientific inquiry, promoting business opportunities, and sharing UG’s research. Research is the second major mandate of the University, with the aim of solving problems and stimulating national development.
The UGIRIE is one of the newer institutes created in 2021 as a Technology Transfer Facility (TTF) that provides a platform for researchers and innovators within the University of Guyana and allied institutions/individual researchers to share new products and services with industry. The programmes and courses offer practical approaches to establishing, accelerating, and scaling up businesses.

The Institute focuses on concepts that are grounded in sound science and technology. This supports UG Blueprint Goal numbers three and four, to create centres of excellence to solve the grand challenges of Guyana and the region and to create successful citizens who are fit for navigating complexity.
Additionally, the Institute was established to ensure that research was documented, scaled up, protected, and publicised. It was also set up to provide solutions to problems in industry and commerce as well as share new information in many areas of societal development.

Director of UGIRIE Prof. Francis said: “These innovations are important for us to stimulate our economy and for working in partnership with the Government of Guyana and the business sector because much has to be done to scale up some of the projects and to get the prototypes to the marketplace.
“I want us to recognise that we are producing a different type of student as they are innovators and entrepreneurs… Our Institute is working on two platforms, one on the level of generating innovation and secondly to encourage all staff and students to be entrepreneurial-minded.”

For more information on the innovations and about UGIRIE, kindly contact director.irie@uog.edu.gy or 592-624-6091 or 592-600-6647 or visit the website at https://ugirie.uog.edu.gy/
The University of Guyana School of Graduate Studies and Research (UGSGSR) also recently held its Third Graduate Symposium under the theme ‘Vulnerability, Resilience, and Change Towards Sustainability: Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Perspectives’.

The University of Guyana, through its students, faculty, and research institutes, has consistently produced path-breaking research which continues to add to the existing body of knowledge in various areas of academic research.
Within the last four years alone, the world ranking of the University of Guyana has risen over 300 points and is steadily climbing towards the upper quartile of academic institutions worldwide. To learn more about UG’s research, please visit: https://researchandinnovation.uog.edu.gy/