CEO Kenia Dr. Tonny Omwansa address the press during the Launch in Moven Pick Hotel Nairobi.
Kenya National Innovation Agency (Kenia) has today launched the Unpacking 10 years Innovation Masterplan.
The innovation masterplan assesses the current state of Kenya’s National Innovation ecosystem, outlining The Kenya National Innovation Agency’s vision for its growth over the next decade.
Targeting various institutional leaders from key sectors with an intention of advancing the national commercialisation infrastructure.
The CEO of KeNIA, Dr. Tony Omwansa broke down the 10-year master plan that was
launched a year ago, into two major focus areas: research commercialization and
the start-up ecosystem. Through partnership with private sectors, the is a need to
build capacity and institutional levels and the use of data in policy and regulatory
environments to foster a more innovation-friendly environment. Through
commercialization, over the next 10 years, KeNIA hopes to:
• Foster leadership, governance, and funding
• Achieve adequate infrastructure for innovation
• Improve human capital
• Create linkages and partnerships for innovation
• Entrepreneurial education
• Foster Policies and Strategies that promote innovation
Prof. Peter N. Muchiri VC Dedan Kimathi observed that the universities are key towards innovation by increasing research on manufacturing, agriculture, and value addition processes. Society needs more innovation solutions. Technology is also key while doing all this, hence digital transformation, and there is a need to create strong cluster areas like; Climate Change, manufacturing, agriculture, and others for young people to explore and innovate.
“The president launched the plan in November last year. 6bmonths later, we have a portal to track the developments.
Plan consist of Tracking portal, Mid Year Round Table, Kenya Innovation week,
I have a duty to ensure that each component keeps getting better.
Human capacity, access to finance, access to markets, infrastructure, and policies are all important towards achieving that plan.
Enterpreneurs and innovators have an important role to play towards building a strong ecosystem in innovation that is more competitive globally. We have also collaborated with few partners to ensure the Master plan is better.” Said CEO Dr. Tonny Omwansa CEO Kenia.
In one year since the launch, more than 10 universities adopted the entrepreneurial education approach and the ongoing commercialisation andentrepreneurial institutionss Leaders (CEIL) Summit scheduledd to happen on the
29th to 30th of August 2024) to help in capacity building. The start-up’s approach,
we have existing partnerships with;
1. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) – designing start-up
ecosystem support policy
2. Africa Development Fund (AfDB) – designing Kenya Innovation Fund of $42M
by 2028
3. IDRC.CRDI – designing regional innovation collaboration framework
4. Presidential Innovation Award – scouting, recognizing, and commercializing
promising innovations in Kenya
5. Kenya Innovation Week – annual showcasing of innovations and celebrating
the start-up economy that fosters more partnerships
Still seeking more partnerships and collaborations to increase innovation thus
creating more job opportunities for the youth and creating wealth.
Kenia supports the identification, recording, and protection of innovative ideas to coordinate the establishment and implementation of appropriate policies, standards, processes, infrastructure, and partnerships to nurture innovative ideas. The agency also works with partners to ensure appropriate prioritisation, relevant capacity development, innovation recognition, and publication of the same.
