Digital Innovation Week ends on a high note

Mombasa,

Saturday, October 7, 2023

KNA by Mohamed Hassan and Shamim Musa

The 4th edition of the annual Pwani Innovation Week in Mombasa ended with amplified excitement and achievements.

The Digital Innovation Week organized by the Swahili pot hub showcases and celebrates milestones in the country’s digital innovation ecosystem.

It involves participants from across the country and aims to promote discourses on enhancing digital literacy and adaptation.

The event features insightful presentations and innovative displays from influential digital players and key stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem.

Collaborations and synergies are created as the event brings together digital policymakers, startups, corporates, and intermediary organizations across the country.

The Swahili pot hub is an initiative that seeks to nurture and promote youth entrepreneurship and innovation in the coastal region.

Set up as labs equipped with technology, WIFI hotspots, software, and networks, the Swahili Pot has been designed as a technology and arts open community workspace at the Swahili Cultural Center for ease of access to youth from all walks of life.

Patron and chairman of Swahili Pot Hub Mahmoud Noor said they are excited to highlight the region’s digital aspirations and the initiatives being undertaken to meet them.

Mr. Noor hailed the weeklong technology and innovation forum as a huge success with many partners, technology vendors, startups, exhibitors, and service providers in attendance.

He said the innovation hub with free high-speed internet is designed to avail space and equipment for young people to develop innovative ICT products and applications from conception, production, and marketing.

“This annual innovation platform allows various actors to learn, share insights, and create critical connections and networks to enhance the progress of the ICT landscape,” he said during an interview.

Noor said many representatives from the national and county governments of Mombasa, Kilifi, Lamu, Taita Taveta, and national and global tech companies attended the innovation week to ‘make the case for digital innovation’.

“This is our fourth edition and we are excited that the innovation festival and ecosystem has been growing in leaps and bounds,” he said.

He says it is usually held in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Digital Economy and the foreign embassies of France, Belgium, and Saudi Arabia.

Noor says hundreds of technology industry stakeholders and enthusiasts attended this year’s innovation week packed with several activities that brought together players in different sectors of the economy. “The ICT industry stakeholders are keen on leveraging technology for business and economic growth,” he said.

Senator Allan Chesang, the Chairperson of the Senate Information, Communication, and Technology Committee says the outcomes of the collaborative innovative forum encompass networking opportunities, the presentation of digital policies, and an emphasis on digital transformation.

Chesang, the Trans Nzoia County Senator was accompanied by his Kwale counterpart Issa Boy and nominated senators Miraj Abdillahi and Shakila Abdalla.

“Actually there is a need for all the 47 devolved units to embrace the digital superhighway and become an integral part of the digital revolution that is reshaping Kenya’s future,” he said.

Chesang says the national government has prioritized the digital super highway as a key driver for the country's transformation, creation of jobs, and socio-economic growth.

He says at its core, the Pwani Innovation Forum aims to nurture the rapid growth of technology and innovation in the country and underscored the need for such events to be replicated in all the counties.

Salim Dickens, a student from the Technical University of Mombasa who has developed a hydroponic system, hailed the Pwani Innovation Week as an event where ideas, trends, and opportunities around technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship development are discussed.

Dickens says hydroponic gardening is space-efficient and takes less water than gardening in soil.

He says hydroponics is a type of soilless gardening that can be done either indoors or outdoors and with large-scale production can address food insecurities, especially in Arid and Semi-Arid zones.

Hydroponics is the art of gardening without soil and in the absence of soil, water goes to work providing nutrients, hydration, and oxygen to plant life.

Courtesy; KNA