Yesterday, Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) staged an innovation conference, which also marked the launch of the technology city’s Innovation Ecosystem Forum. The event was attended by key technology players and partners from KCB Bank Kenya, telco Safaricom, Chinese technology equipment manufacturer Huawei, as well as reps from Meru and Machakos Universities.
The forum is part of KoTDA’s series of developments and initiatives that aim to illustrate the country’s capability to push for gainful innovation.
The launch was graced by KoTDA’s CEO Eng. John Tanui and the PS for the Ministry of ICT, Mr Jerome Ochieng’. Engineer Tanui emphasized Konza’s pillars, namely ICT & Information Technology Enabled Services (ICT/ITES), Life Sciences and Engineering.
“Innovation is an instrumental pillar in Konza Technopolis’ core mandate. Indeed, our focus areas in the innovation ecosystem are guided by direct investment in technology, smart urban planning and building a knowledge-intensive environment for stakeholders and the community,” Eng. Tanui said.
“Expanding opportunities so that children can reach their full potential in “tech” adoption is not only a “right” thing to do but also makes good economic sense hence the STEM Bootcamp. Promoting the cognitive capital of children by finding new solutions to the barriers they face is an important contribution to the long-term economic growth of any country,” he added.
The Konza Technopolis project continues to develop an initiative for stakeholders and parties interested in pushing the Konza agenda that purposes to meet the needs of government, academia, community/civil society, and industry.
A statement from the Ministry of ICT’s CS Joe Mucheru emphasized the need to attract foreign investments and local partners in rolling out Konza’s multiple phases.
“As one of the agencies assigned to bringing this dream to life, we are impressed with the progress that KoTDA has achieved so far. The attraction of foreign and local partners and rollout of phase one indicates that there is hope that Kenya is on course to becoming the innovation hub on the continent,” noted Mr Mucheru in a statement.
The first Phase, which should be concluded in 35 months and covers 400 acres of Konza’s 5000 acres, will also feature a power substation and data centre by KETRACO.
