Monday, November 29, 2010

#Open Innovation Africa #Unconference at i-hub

Ihub organised the #OpenAfrica #Innovation Meetup/Unconference  on November 26, 2010 as a precursor to the Open Africa Innovation Summit 2010 which is currently running in Naivasha from today November 29 to December 1, 2010.
Poster
This meet up was meant to showcase some presentations which will feature in the conference and also as a chance to get any last minute new ideas. To my understanding the innovations (Such as M-Pesa) that have been happening in Africa (especially Kenya) have caught the attention of the big boys aka the corporate world such as Nokia and as such this corporations are looking at ways in which they can be able to spot innovations which are happening in the continent.

Hence the evening started with presentations from Victor of FrontlineSms (http://www.frontlinesms.com/) and from Ufahari (http://ufahari.com/) which provides a platform of showcasing new ideas.

Source* Ustream

Thereafter we had the Unconference. Which is basically a informal conference where participants cluster to areas where they discuss ideas focusing on the 4 key themes of the summit i.e.

  • Ecosystems for Innovation
  • Sustainability Models for Bottom of the Pyramid (Emerging Business Models)
  •  Mobile Services Revolution
  • Human Capital – Education for All
So I joined the discussion on Ecosystem for Innovation. Under this we discussed why it is difficult for innovations to be identified in an early stage. Some of the major problems is;
  • The lack of middle level resource persons who are able to track innovations from where they are found
  • Innovation hubs or centers to nature spirit of innovation
  • The Media does NOT recognize nor CULTIVATE the spirit of looking & rewarding innovators (Focuses MOSTLY on Politics)
  • Corporate giants are not involved in this ecosystem
There after, I attended a follow-up discussion at Sierra Lounge where we were joined by Jussi Hinkkanen Head of Government Affairs and Bussiness Environment in Africa for Nokia.
Jussi Hinkkanen
Open Africa Innovation Summit 2010


This summit is organized in cooperation by Nokia and infoDev, with the support of Capgemini. Open Africa Innovation Summit 2010 brings together 200 African thought leaders around four "Challenge streams" to identify which skills and services are needed for building innovative societies in Africa and how modern technologies can be used to accelerate the process.
  • Ecosystems for Innovation
  • Sustainability Models for Bottom of the Pyramid (Emerging Business Models)
  •  Mobile Services Revolution
  • Human Capital – Education for All
Innovate Africa
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