Kenya’s National Council of Science and Technology (NCST), secretary and CEO, Prof Shaukat Abdulrazak has challenged Kenyans to turn their knowledge and ideas into innovations. Prof Abdulrazak says the growing ICT sector has vast opportunities to be explored through entrepreneur innovations and ventures.
The CEO points out that the culture of publish or perish that has been in existence in institutions of higher learning should be a thing of the past to usher in a plat form of research, innovate, patent and commercialize.
He says this culture should be inculcated from primary schools to institutions of higher learning. The NCST secretary says this will make students appreciate science and socialize it across the board.
NCST is at the forefront of funding young innovators to translate their products from ideas to prototypes and then to commercial products. To inspire the young innovators Prof Abdulrazak is the patron of the Kenya’s Young Innovators Association.
This year NCST launched a cart tracker, an innovation of Mr Morris Mbetsa – which was funded to a tune of KShs 3 million with additional funding for its commercialization.
The former Vice Chancellor of Egerton University says they are funding other innovators to develop prototypes as he welcome all Kenyans with an ideas albeit their level of education and age to present their proposals for funding consideration.
He says that the NCST believes that entrepreneurship anchored on the premise of innovations holds the key for the country to realize Vision 2030.
On his part Kenya’s Information and Communication minister, Mr Samuel Poghisio, says Kenyan Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies should invest in innovative software solutions to propel the country into a middle class economy.
Mr Pogisio says the country has attracted attention owing to successful M-Pesa technology and urged local ICT service provider to take advantage of the global recognition to spur development in the industry.
“Local ICT companies and software providers should come up with locally relevant solutions given that there is a large market for innovative software products in the country,” Mr Pogisio said.
The minister says venture capital and partnership is the way forward. He cited an example of Twenty Third Century Systems (TTCS), a Zimbabwean ICT company that has partnered with Seven Seas Technology.
He says the entry of TTCS in the Kenyan market comes at a better time in the wake of major developments in the ICT sector with increased mobile phone and Internet penetration.
“Increased awareness and access to software products is buttress by the arrival of fibre optics cables, this partnership comes at a time of great digital promise to this country,” the minister said.
The minister has challenged local service providers to be innovative to offer home grown solutions instead of depending on foreign ICT experts.
Poghisio says such partnership will offer the ICT industry highly skilled expertise locally by offering training and employment opportunities for graduates and consultants.
TTCS chief executive, Mr Ellman Chanakira, says African governments should shake off dependency syndrome on foreign experts and instead let local companies explore the knowledge –based ICT sector.
“We want to deepen our strategic engagements with ICT companies globally because we believe that this will have great impact in employment and wealth creation as well as development of skills,” said, Chanakira, adding that the transformation of the country into an industrialized nation requires partnership between players.
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