When Konza is not tightening regulations about investments in its surroundings, the upcoming technopolis takes part in a number of initiatives that seek to expand its smart city features and horizons.
Recent developments have revealed that Konza has offered unique opportunities to four start-ups to pilot their innovations as the city lays down plans to offer various smart solutions to its residents in the coming days.
The startups were picked following their successful presentations at the Konza Innovation Challenge 2021. The firms will then expand their innovations but on a larger Konza City scope.
The Challenge, which was jointly hosted by the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) and Embassy of Israel in Kenya, attracted 99 nominations from the country and Israel.
The selected startups are:
- Personal Watchguard for intelligent asset management – Kenya
- Ekraal Hub for smart parking management -Kenya
- H-Pass for access management – Kenya
- Step-Hear – Assistive Accessibility Technology for traffic management – Israel
According to the technopolis, the city is expected around 30K residents once it is open to the public.
The startups were announced during the awards ceremony of the fair at Strathmore. In attendance were ICT CS Joe Mucheru, Israel Ambassador to Kenya, His Excellency Mr. Oded Joseph, Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) Chairman Arch. Dr. Reuben Mutiso, representatives from Dedan Kimathi University of Technology and Strathmore University, ICT and Innovation officials from Makueni and Kajiado Counties.
During the event, it emerged that Kenyan startup have since raised KES 19.1 billion of combined funding in 2020.
What They Said
This is an exciting and historic moment in the sector as we are accelerating development by having homegrown solutions to deal with our challenges. As a government, we are glad that today’s innovations will be piloted here at the Technopolis.
ICT CS Joe Mucheru
As a country, Israel is honored to be part of Kenya’s innovation journey, and we are happy to compare notes and share ideas. We are happy to be part of the Konza Innovation Challenge. Kenya’s start-up ecosystem is vibrant, and quite established in the continent. As the government of Israel, I would like to state that we are proud to be part of this journey and we pledge to continue working with you to build your ICT & Innovation ecosystem for posterity
Israeli Amb. Oded
