The inaugural National ICT Innovation Expo is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 17th December 2019 with the aim of showcasing the potential of ICT innovation in the country.
The one-day event will be held at the Nakawa based Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology (UICT) Grounds and President Yoweri Museveni is expected to be Chief Guest.
Addressing the press about the event Tuesday morning at Ministry of ICT and National Guidance Headquarters in Kampala, Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister for ICT and National Guidance, said Uganda can’t continue to encourage her people to be net consumers of other people’s innovations yet “we have very good intellectual capacity and people are innovating.”
He noted that two years ago, Government through ICT Ministry started the National ICT Innovation Support Programme (NIISP) where the Ministry of ICT and its partners call for concepts from innovators who demonstrate capacity that their innovations are ready to go the market or have gone to the market and award them grants to grow their innovations.
They use the money to acquire intellectual property, they use the money to improve on their innovations , they use the money to market their products. Up to now, we have supported over 70 mature innovations in the ICT space not to mention other innovations that have been supported by (players in) the private sector,” Tumwebaze said.
He added: “Locally, we can proudly say that we can survive on our own locally made IT systems.”
What to expect
At the expo, the Minister said, innovators will showcase their products to government agencies, members of the public and private companies-local and international.
“… We are trying to market their ideas. We are trying to tell government agencies that you no longer need to procure expensive IT systems from abroad and if you do, don’t go on buying licenses or again paying for teams to come here for maintenance. We are demonstrating that this capacity we have as a country,” he said, appealing to members of the public to come and see for themselves locally developed Applications.
“Different people will be pitching to the market what their solutions can do; some of them are already deployed,” the Minister said, adding that innovations in health, education and business/commerce among others will be showcased.
“All those payment wallets that are on the market most of them are locally developed and will be showcasing,” Tumwebaze said.
He added: “We believe that when the MDAs who manage government funds are convinced with the resilience of our Apps in the eco system, then they can buy them. When you look at the PPDA Act, there are sections that provide for preferential treatment in procurement intended to support local products especially if the local products can serve the purpose and give you value for money.”
Tumwebaze said without innovations, “you can never create jobs in the IT space; you will continue helping others to consume their products.”
“A sustainable future of any economy or country going forward is not oil or even agriculture…any economy to stand now and tomorrow, it must take to the market knowledge products. That’s why every country is aspiring to build a technology economy,” he said.
