A Catalyst for Change: Indigenous Innovation at UH

As the state’s largest research institution, the University of Hawai‘i (UH) has an obligation to help improve the quality of life for its residents and to those around the world through innovative research and education.

For UH, success in promoting economic and intellectual competitiveness will be based around the uniqueness and excellence that is inherent to the islands. Hawai‘i’s unmatched diversity of environments that encompass snow-covered volcanic summits, tropical rainforests, desert canyons, coral reefs, deep blue ocean and untapped natural energy resources -- mirrored only by the state’s ethnic diversity, has always been the foundation of UH’s world-class research. These strengths, respectfully acknowledging the precedent that the ancestors of these lands developed practical knowledge that was optimized for calibrating human society and the carrying capacity of the island ecosystems, have now become the “tip of the spear” in UH’s charge to preserve the natural resources, environment, and way of life — not just at home, but across the world.

As the only R1 university in the nation that has an Office of Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation embedded within the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, UH is uniquely positioned to provide global leadership in developing an ecosystem of Indigenous innovations and practices to facilitate place-based research initiatives in Hawai‘i and beyond. Not only would this create incredible opportunities in novel research and funding for UH, but it can also lead to the co-production of research and innovationwith and forIndigenous communities.

Sponsored by the University of Hawai‘i Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation

Host or Publisher University of Hawaii