Thursday: "Research and Innovation in a Resource-complex Environment"

When: 12:15 to 13:00 (CET). A 45 minute seminar followed by a short break, allowing those who need to depart to do so. We will then continue with a Q&A session until 13:30.
Where: Teknikringen 1, KTH Campus.

Click to watch this recorded seminar on YouTube

Research and innovation are highly prioritized in most regions, including Europe and Africa, as means to address societal challenges. However, several questions arise: How does the environment in which researchers and entrepreneurs operate influence their ability to implement impactful solutions? What insights do they gain while navigating environments where resource accessibility, infrastructure and innovation systems vary significantly? And how do we ensure successful adoption and sustained implementation of innovations that have been proven to work elsewhere?

This panel discussion invites researchers and entrepreneurs engaged in research and innovation on the African continent to explore the challenges and opportunities they face, united by a common purpose – how do we create meaningful impact in society?

About Susanne Nilsson

Susanne Nilsson is a researcher at Integrated Product Development and Design, Department of Machine Design. She has a MSc in materials technology and a Ph.D. in innovation management. Susanne has extensive experience in the medical device industry where she has held R&D and innovation management positions for 15+ years. In addition, she has been responsible for many industry-academia collaboration projects.

Her research interests include sustainable product-service innovation and innovation capability development within and between organizations, both public and private. She is presently involved in research projects related to multi-stakeholder collaboration in innovation ecosystems, social entrepreneurship and frugal innovation, and pricing and revenue models for digital offerings.

Susanne Nilsson teaches master-level students in courses related to innovation management and product development, and is involved in teacher training for challenge-driven education. In addition, she is engaged in KTH GDH (Global Development Hub) developing opportunities for students to creatively manage complex real-life sustainability challenges in Africa.

The panel

Moderator

Viktor Olsson

Viktor Olsson work at KTH Innovation, where he and his colleagues support students, researchers and employees at KTH to turn their ideas and research results into viable and exciting startups. KTH Innovation, he is responsible for our international collaborations and partnerships, including the Brighter program, bilateral and multilateral strategies towards US, East Africa and Asia as well as other international initatives at KTH.

Panelists

Aman Russom

KTH Professor Aman Russom's research is focused on applying engineering principles and technologies, especially micro-and nanotechnology, to biomedical related problems of scientific and humanitarian interest. He is currently coordinating a large EU project, HOLICARE, an EU-sub sahara African project aiming at bridging the diagnostics gap especially access to advanced diagnostics at resource limited settings.

Jenni Ginström

Jenni Ginström is the acting managing director of Help to Help, based in Stockholm. Help to Help is a non profit foundation established in 2010 by KTH alumna Malin Cronqvist, supported by KTH Innovation. Help to Help enables higher studies for financially disadvantaged youth in Tanzania and Uganda. To date, over 800 young changemakers have gotten the opportunity to study at universities in East Africa with support from Help to Help's scholarship program. The foundation has offices in Stockholm and Dar es Salaam. 

Johnblack Kabukye

Johnblack Kabukye is a medical doctor from Uganda and postdoctoral researcher in Digital Health at SPIDER, DSV, Stockholm University. He is currently a Digital Futures Postdoctoral Fellow.