The Centre for ICT Product Development Training and Services (CITS) provides technical support services in ICT product development and training. It serves as hub for practical skills development by hosting apprentices and interns drawn from University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Faculties. The Centre leverages the university's research and development competencies in the development of trainings, digital artefacts and services. Its current focus is coming up with viable solutions that narrow the widening digital divide. At the centre of CITS is a Digital Microfactory that will produce digital products and services with a niche in digital micro-production that include 3D printing, Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML), edge and fog infrastructure and STEAM boot-camps.
Most of CITS’ development work is conducted through development groups within the university community also known as "Communities of Passion". The Communities of Passion include: Digital Fabrication, TinyML, Fog & Edge Infrastructure, STEAM, Swarm Intelligence, Community Networks, Smart Cities & Communities, Smart Contracts, Pirate Metrics & User Experience Design, Lean Digital Transformation and Decentralised Finance.
Active Projects
STEAM Makerspace
One of CITS' currently running projects is the STEAM Makerspace. The Makerspace is a space for UZ students, mostly from non-science backgrounds like Arts, Social Sciences, Public Administration, and Law, to learn about Open Source Hardware and Software and Design Thinking whilst developing digital artifacts.
Guided by opportunities availed by miniaturization of computers, the Makerspace targets TinyML training for the following departments within the UZ: Analytics and Informatics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Electronics and Telecommunications. Most of the Makerspace projects extensively use the Arduino microcontrollers and Raspberry Pi Single Board Computer which are inclusive, affordable and accessible to the university students from digitally unconnected communities and backgrounds.
