Despite the last minute postponement of the Rice360 project phase II launch in Lilongwe on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 due to the death of Vice President late Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight other officials in a plane crash, the organisers still wanted to appreciate some of the products from the project’s first phase that involved, among others, the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas) and Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Kuhes). 

Students and officials from the three public universities moved from BICC, venue for the launch, to Ufulu Gardens within the city to showcase health-related innovations that were inspired or benefitted from resources under the Rice360 first phase project. 

Officials from the three universities, the president of Rice University in the US , Professor Reginald DesRoches and his team of donors and faculty and the NEST360 Malawi team, were in attendance to appreciate the innovations. 

For MUST, one group of students had a device that controls and monitors temperature of drugs, especially insulin, to ensure that even remote areas can store and use the drug at the right temperatures. 

Another group showcased a device that records and tracks important parameters during intravenous therapy.