By Mary Mwendwa and Winnie Kamau
Preparations are on top gear to host the second Nairobi Innovation Week 2016.The forum which starts from 1st – 5th August 2016 will bring on board over 1000 delegates from policy, academia, research,innovation and other areas of interest.
According to Dr. Tonny Omwansa, Senior Lecturer, School of computing and Informatics , Co-coordinator , C4D Lab, University’s Innovation and Incubation Hub, University of Nairobi ; “We took this challenge with other colleagues at the university to start such an event so that we can tap into innovation from a bigger perspective .The areas of interest in this venture are research , policy , capacity building and innovative products .The first Nairobi innovation week was held in 2015 where partners from both private and public sector came together to promote innovation .Over 50 exhibitors attended the one week event.”
Dr.Omwansa notes that Innovation remains one of the most important pillars of the current university of Nairobi leadership. Prof . Peter Mbithi strongly believes innovation as one of the legacies he will leave behind at University.This year’s theme is “Partnership for Innovations that truly impact people and societies”.
Prof .Mbithi, Vice Chancellor, University of Nairobi says that the innovation week is viewed as a program as opposed to a collection of annual events .” The program will be enhanced year by year both in the quality and complexity.”He continues to say, “The university aspires to work with partners to grow the program into a global event that will continue to hold the unique position that Kenya has as a regional hub of innovation .”
This year’s Nairobi Innovation Week objective aims to champion relevant policy discussions around innovation, showcase and recognize innovations by researchers , incubates and organizations, and to promote practical skills needed to create innovations that can impact on livelihoods.
Dr.Omwansa further says ;” The five day event which will have specific days set for activities like boot camps and hackathons, workshops, exhibitions , pitches and graduation of startups , keynote presentations and panel discussions and a data cooking show will see the participants engage around sub -themes on ; SDGs, Vision 2030, County Governments and National Government , youth and children, Real time Data and innovation , Technology transfer and role of private sector and development partners in developing National innovation Ecosystems among others.”
Nairobi Innovation week has drawn partners from public and private sector, some of them are Barclays Bank, Unicef, Safaricom company , Microsoft, Embassy of Israel, ministry of Education among many other partners.
