The second leg of the Nairobi Innovation Week started today August 1st running through 5th. This is an event seeking to celebrate and recognize innovations within Kenya that are positively impacting the socio-economic landscape.
Key objectives of the Nairobi Innovation Week
According to the Innovation Week website, the event’s key objectives are:
To champion relevant policy discussions on innovation within institutions and the country.
To promote practical skills necessary to create innovations that actually impact people and societies.
To showcase and recognize innovations by researchers, incubates, startups, and organizations.
To build a platform for presentation and dissemination of relevant academic papers, innovation illustrations, and case studies.
This event also seeks to engage policymakers in initiatives that will spark growth and innovation in Kenya. It also seeks to create linkages between diverse stakeholders in the ecosystem, where they get to learn about existing innovation and inventions and hopefully strike a synergy.
The Nairobi Innovation Week also seeks to provide support for local and international collaboration in areas such as applied research between the private and public sectors. It will also act as a platform for showcasing innovations and inventions borne out of the University of Nairobi and Kenya in general.
Lastly, it will also stimulate and promote the spirit of entrepreneurship and technology skills mastership among the youth in Kenya and the greater East Africa region. The event is currently underway and will be running until Friday this week. The following are some tweets being made about the event.
Preparation underway for the Nairobi Innovation Week #NIW2016 #NIWeek #NIW cc @flexxmosh @InnovWkNairobi #Africa pic.twitter.com/FXd8r9gORo
— Innov8tiv (@innov8tivmag) August 1, 2016
Nairobi Innovation Week 2016 has officially commenced today at the University of Nairobi. #NIW2016 pic.twitter.com/TB9vzQ1hyH
— IndustryKE (@IndustryKE) August 1, 2016
Make use of other peoples money. #NIW2016
MakingSenseWithCents Master Class @uonbi Innovation Week pic.twitter.com/qlVpQie51f— ViceChancellor,UoNBI (@vcuonbi) August 1, 2016
#NIW2016
Julius Kiragu : I learnt not to hire relatives.
MakingSenseWithCents Master Class @uonbi Innovation Week pic.twitter.com/NVSFyWOdaI— ViceChancellor,UoNBI (@vcuonbi) August 1, 2016
#NIW2016 #Businessifying ideas Ask-Leila’s ‘chapati’ capital stemmed from solving her customers problems and pains pic.twitter.com/aoCHSY1BSC
— SenseWithCents (@SenseWithCents) August 1, 2016
We must continuously endevour to invest in innovation #NIW2016 #ProjectKE16 Join us next week @KICC_kenya to discover new technologies
— Project Kenya (@ProjectKenya_) August 1, 2016
Mindset for Human-centered design thinking – let go of assumptions for real solutions #NIW2016 @UNICEFinnovate pic.twitter.com/LhdkHl5J0Q
— UNICEF Kenya (@UNICEFKenya) August 1, 2016
Action with SenseWithCents! #Businessifying @CCiiru @InnovWkNairobi @uonbi #NIW2016 pic.twitter.com/wErkOVmmhp
— SenseWithCents (@SenseWithCents) August 1, 2016
Participants of #NIW2016 take part in @UNICEF Human-centered Design Thinking Workshop @uonbi #Innovate4Change pic.twitter.com/79GTXJdveK
— UNICEF Kenya (@UNICEFKenya) August 1, 2016
Participants of #NIW2016 take part in @UNICEF Human-centered Design Thinking Workshop @uonbi #Innovate4Change pic.twitter.com/79GTXJdveK
— UNICEF Kenya (@UNICEFKenya) August 1, 2016
About the Innovation Week
Statement by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nairobi reads in part: As the leading University in the region, we are opening a new chapter to provide leadership in the development of our National Innovation Ecosystem.
We would like to nurture and encourage the discipline of creating human-centric innovation that has a meaningful impact on the society. We initiated the Nairobi Innovation Week as a platform that gives all of us an opportunity to celebrate and propel our join innovation efforts. This year, working with several partners, we convened the 2nd Nairobi Innovation Week as a demonstration of our commitment to this agenda.
Committing five days of the calendar year to focus on various aspects of Innovation is a sign that we are determined to turn the National Innovation Wheel. For more on VC’s statement, click here [PDF file].
