As part of its commitment to advancing impactful research and innovation, Soroti University held a high-level Industry–Academia Engagement Workshop with the technical and management team from West Nile Rural Electrification Company (WENRECO) on Thursday, 9th July 2026. The workshop marks an important step towards strengthening collaboration between academia and industry by ensuring that university research directly addresses real-world challenges facing Uganda’s electricity sector.
Soroti University Team (in blue shirts) and WENRECO team pose for a photo moment after the workshop in Arua.
Organized under the Soroti University Research and Innovation Fund (SUN-RIF) Round 2, a Government of Uganda-supported fund aims at driving national development priorities through promoting high-impact research, commercialization, and capacity building.
The project will develop innovative solutions to improve accessibility, flexibility and resilience within Uganda’s prepaid electricity system.
The workshop brought together researchers from Soroti University and technical experts from WENRECO to discuss operational experiences, emerging challenges and opportunities for collaborative research. The engagement focuses on listening to industry perspectives and identifying the practical problems that require innovative research interventions.
The Project’s Principal Investigator, Mr. Balinda Roland Mujungu, emphasized the university’s responsibility in generating knowledge that is relevant to national development priorities where researchers gain a deeper understanding of operational realities, enabling them to develop technologies and solutions that are practical, implementable and responsive to the needs of electricity utilities and their customers.
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Dr. Ann Move Oguti – Software Team Lead (Left), Mr. Francis Komakech – Hardware Team Lead (Center), and Mr. Balinda Roland Mujungu – Principal Investigator (Right), during the research workshop.
He emphasized that the project extends beyond research by promoting capacity building through the Emerging Technologies for Development (ET4D) Research Lab at the School of Engineering and Technology of Soroti University, where students are actively mentored through hands-on research, prototype development and industry engagement.
This approach aims to equip students with practical skills, foster innovation to prepare future engineers and researchers capable of contributing to Uganda’s sustainable technological and socio-economic development.
The Senior Human Resources Officer of WENRECO, Mr. Isaac Newton Mukwaya, welcomed the initiative and reaffirmed the importance of stronger partnerships with research institutions in addressing operational and technological challenges. He noted that meaningful research begins with understanding the problems faced by the industry.
The participants drew a wide range of challenges affecting electricity generation, distribution, customer service, asset management, smart metering, network reliability and operational efficiency. The discussions provided valuable insights aimed at strengthening the ongoing Electricity Sharing Project to inform future research projects and innovation programmes at the University.
The workshop further explored broader areas of future collaboration in the areas of student industrial training, graduate internships, joint research proposals, technology development, staff exchange, consultancy services, capacity building and commercialization of research outputs. Such collaborations are expected to strengthen knowledge exchange between academia and industry while accelerating innovation within Uganda’s electricity sector.