• Konza Innovation Challenge targets innovations in response to the advancement of Konza Technopolis.
• The winners of the Konza challenge will be awarded $5,000 (Sh549,850) to boost their startups and an opportunity to pilot their innovation in the technopolis.
Konza Technopolis Development Authority and the Embassy of Israel have partnered to host an innovation challenge to address technology-driven needs.
Konza Innovation Challenge targets innovations in response to the advancement of Konza Technopolis.
The winners will be awarded $5,000 (Sh549,850) to boost their startups and an opportunity to pilot their innovation in the technopolis.
"The challenge will provide an opportunity for innovators in Kenya and Israel to solve the immediate and long-term needs of Konza Technopolis with a focus on smart access control, intelligent asset management, smart parking management and smart traffic management solution,” KoTDA chief executive John Tanui said.
He said it will provide an opportunity to deepen collaborations between the two countries.
Israel Ambassador Oded Joseph said his country is keen on developing cooperation on innovation and Kenya is an excellent partner.
“Here we can find the heartbeat of talent and a thriving innovation system. We see many hubs being grown here. The fact that there are growing hubs here is very important and that is a field for cooperation with Israeli hubs. We have promising partners like Konza Technopolis, a smart city that is known as Silicon Savannah,” Joseph said.
The diplomat said he is looking forward to seeing the youth develop solutions that can be adopted in Konza, and hopefully, do it together with the youth from Israel.
The ambassador highlighted challenges in Israel such as security, food security and water that have been major drivers to developing solutions for the country.
For the projects that will be unsuccessful, Konza will provide a space through the National Data Centre where digital applications can be hosted and supported through an acceleration programme to be implemented in partnership with innovation hubs working with KoTDA.
“We have seen many startups that are born global at the start and those are some of the opportunities we want to create for Kenyan innovators through linkages with other innovation ecosystems,” Tanui said.
Being the country’s first smart city, Konza is attracting global attention, and the innovation challenge will provide an opportunity for Kenyans to give ideas and meet some of the challenges the country is facing.
Israel has more than 9,488 startups, with its high-tech industry producing about 1,000 new innovative companies every year. Majority of these investments are in cyber security, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech and Foodtech.
The Bloomberg 2021 Innovation Index ranks Israel seventh among the most innovative countries in the world, and number one in raising venture capital per capita.
South Korea is the first followed by Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark in that order. Finland is ranked 8th, Netherlands 9th and Austria 10th.
In 2020, despite the Coronavirus Pandemic, investments totaled USD10 billion in 607 deals exceeding 2019 results by 31 per cent in capital and 20 per cent in the number of deals.