Watu Wamae.

Watu Wamae is Head of Innovation at the Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx), University of Oxford. She spearheaded the design and implementation of the AfOx Innovation Platform, which she now leads. Watu holds other roles in Oxford including as a Reuben College Governing Body Official Fellow in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, as Tutor at the Said Business School on the MBA students’ Entrepreneurship Projects and as a lecturer on the Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship course on the MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine.

Watu brings her deep appreciation of science and technology to an understanding of global innovation economy. She has deep knowledge and experience of the African innovation ecosystems and an exceptional ability to apply her expertise to identify and leverage talent for addressing real life challenges through innovation. Watu has held various innovation policy related roles advising African governments on national strategies for Science, Technology and Innovation. She serves as an advisor to the technical committee of the Kenya Innovation Agency (KeNIA) and was awarded the African Biotech Ambassador Award 2022 by the BIO Africa Convention for her services to advancing biotech innovation in Africa.

Prior to Oxford, Watu was Senior Co-ordinator at the Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Heath Research, University of Cambridge. She holds a PhD in Economics of Innovation and has held post-doctoral positions at the Science and Technology Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex and UNU-MERIT, Maastricht.