Invention, Innovation and Creativity Management in Education for Sustainable Development Towards Attainment of Vision 2030

Abstract

Ideas, inventions and innovations are like butterflies. They are transient, fleeting and often incompletely formed. Unless we invite them to stay by having innovation management skills they tend to wander off. The myriads of Annual High School Science Congresses and student innovation conferences in universities reveal abundance of “ideas people”, who unfortunately fade off to obscurity due to lack of management skills. Since these are not products of necessity but curiosity it calls for innovation and creativity management for sustainability by incorporating patenting of innovation in curricula to be taught just like printing, publishing and copyrighting is taught in literature. This research was pegged on John Dewey theory of education which integrates the school with the society, and the process of learning with the actual problems of life by a through application of the principles and practices of democracy. It adopted the descriptive survey research design, data was collected using interviews, phones and emails conducted to 2013 National Science Congress presenters, researchers of 2014 at the Laikipia University 2nd International Conference and Kabarak 4th International Conference, which also incorporated students’ innovation. There is no coordination of research activities among the various institutions to ensure synergy and to avoid duplication. Proven technical knowledge produced in high schools, tertiary institutions, including universities has been going down the drain with failure to transform into technologies and protect it as intellectual property in patents which are sources of information for new inventions, technology transfer to encourage research and development. Thus, educational curricula should be reviewed to include educational leadership and management of innovation and creativity with the process of protecting proven technical knowledge as intellectual property rights becoming heuristic.