(October 3/2018) A forum of Vice Presidents of Government Higher Education Institutions for Research, Community Engagement and Technology Transfer was held.

At the same time, State Minister for Higher Education Development Ato Kora Tushune stressed that research conducted in higher education institutions should not only be commercialization-oriented, but also have a community and industry as its source and destination.

He also urged higher education institutions to continue to strengthen their research and innovation and to continue to work in coordination and cooperation with institutions that have not established their own commercial technology and innovation incubation centers and to immediately establish and start working.

Dr. Serawit Handiso, Executive Director of Research and Community Engagement in the Higher Education Development Sector, said that the ultimate goal of higher education institutions is to market their research results and solve the problems of society and generate income for them.

Therefore, higher education institutions are expected to go beyond the traditional practice of considering publishing research results as the ultimate goal and conduct effective research that will generate new innovations that will accelerate the country’s social and economic development.

Teshome Daniel, Head of the Institutional Development and Technology Transfer Desk at the Ministry of Education, said that in addition to marketable research results conducted by higher education institutions to solve the problems of society and industry, they are also able to strengthen research and contribute to improving the quality of education.

It is also said that the Forum of Vice Presidents of Public Higher Education Institutions for Research, Community Engagement, and Technology Transfer Issues will make a significant contribution to ensuring that research conducted at the national level solves societal problems.