The Nairobi Innovation Week (NIW) 2024 will be held on May 8-10, 2024, under the theme, “Strengthening the Innovation Ecosystem through Government- Industry-Academia-Community Linkages for Sustainable Development.” We take a look at what it is all about, beginning with the objectives.
NIW 2024 Objectives
This year’s event is envisioned to achieve the following objectives:
- To increase the visibility of the university corporate brand locally and internationally
- To enhance Industry-University linkages
- To mainstream innovation mindset in Higher Institutions of learning in Kenya among students and academia
- To build and strengthen innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem networks towards an entrepreneurial University
- To create awareness on Intellectual protection of research output and commercialization of innovations.
- To identify innovations to be supported for the commercialization process
NIW 2024 Focus Areas
This year’s NIW focuses on these key areas:
- Innovations and start-ups in Education, food security & nutrition, affordable housing, health care, ICT, environment and climate change, business modeling, and cross-cutting sectors
- Incubation and Mentorship for innovators within the university
- Strengthening existing partnerships and acquiring new partners to enhance the innovation ecosystem in the university and beyond
- Working closely with government, industry, MSMEs, funders and other players in the innovation ecosystem
- Academia-industry Problem-Based innovations to enhance the linkage between the two sectors
Perspective
The Nairobi Innovation Week began in 2015 aims to contribute towards a vibrant, productive and sustainable innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem through showcasing innovations, start ups, networking, capacity building, policy influence, and connecting funders with innovators and start ups.
The event has been held annually since then and has seen a vast array of innovations which have been offering solutions to problems in different spheres of life. Last year’s event dubbed, “Innovation and Commercialization for Sustainable Development,” created a platform for 59 odd innovators to exhibit and showcase their innovations. These were drawn from the Faculties of Agriculture, Engineering, Education, Health Sciences, Science and Technology and Law, among others.
Inherent value of Showcasing an Innovation
Beyond looking for a market for a product or service, it is always rewarding to see your creativity recognized by significant peers and other players in the innovation space.
If you have a reason to miss the NIW, then it will not be because there is no reason to attend.
Eclectic Interests
The event has always catered to interests as diverse as there are challenges to deal with, and this year’s will be no different. Thus, no one should say they do not find any reason compelling enough to make them attend. Yet how different will the 2024 Edition Be? To begin with, it’s a new year with a new theme.
Then consider these benefits of being at the event:
Showcasing and Exhibition Opportunities for Your Products/ Services
If you are the entrepreneurial type that has come up with that one (or many) innovation(s) you are just so eager to tell the world about and even turn into an income, then, you definitely want to be at the NIW 2024.
Surely, you don’t want to innovate and hide the evidence of all your efforts under the table like the Biblical lamp that someone would hide under the table instead of letting it give off light.
At the NIW 2024 is where your innovation could get to grow wings and fly away to new horizons of success as either a start-up or spinoff. After all, we are all trying to be proactive here, seeing as “opportunities don’t happen. You create them”—William Grosser has good company in us.
Access to a Creative Pool of Young Talents
The University of Nairobi is not just a name; rather, it is a breeding ground for some of the world’s best talents. Here are minds that have highly cultivated intellect, skills and competencies in just about any imaginable domain.
Why not tap some of that youthful talent to help you push your business agenda to the next level, as you try to solve some of the humanity’s many problems—and you agree the society needs solutions across various sectors of the economy, for example.
Set a Recruitment Booth for the Graduating Cohort
Instead of waiting to put out that ad for prospective candidates to fill this or that position, and even to fix a boardroom for an hour-long interview that may not even yield the right candidate for the job, why not set up a simple booth to attract heads for an interview with comparatively higher chances of giving you the right person for the job?
It is simple; in one booth you can attract as many candidates as are interested in your enterprise to an interview that could be the start of a productive and mutually beneficial work relationship.
An Opportunity to Form Lasting Partnerships and Collaborations with Various Stakeholders
Succeeding as an innovator calls for working with others who plug into your actions at different levels. It is an ecosystem and not a one-man-gets-it-going affair. You need others with different capacities and resources to move your innovation to a point where it can solve a real problem.
At NIW 2024, you will people you can agree and work with for the long haul in partnerships and collaborations that yield products and services that have value for the end-user.
See and Hear Innovation Stories from the Innovators
They say inspiration comes from the one who is inspired. You are sure going to find narratives that resonate with your own dreams and ambitions, stories of hard work and resilience, which could then give you the impetus to push your ideas past the point where they might have stagnated.
Maybe that will be the time to share lessons and draw the motivation and to finally act on what you have been conceiving all along.
Meet with Potential Customers
No customers, no business! That statement is becoming “painfully” more apt by the minute as economies continue to struggle and the purchasing power reduces. Yet that is just part of the problem. The other part, which is perhaps bigger, is that businesses find it hard to sustain themselves as competition rises and everyone goes for a piece of a single pie.
You don’t want to compete by eating your lunch at home away from opportunity. If do, then know that your competitor will be eating your next lunch at NIW 2024′ but why, when really you can do something about it? Fight for your piece of the pie by meeting your potential customers face-to-face.
Meet Faculty Experts and Researchers
If your interest is research, here is a chance like no other. In a place where no one is shy to talk about their sworn commitment to scholarly excellence, you will find and interact with people who undertake and are ready to talk about research into some of our society’s most pressing challenges.
You will also have a chance to sample evidence-based solutions to some of the key social and economic questions people are asking but do not know how to answer effectively because they do not have the tools for that.
During the NIW 2024, you will even be able to challenge yourself as you look at some of the methodologies in use by experts and researchers in your field of interest, and learn about future trends in research and development.
Access to Large Pool of Faculty and Students
Doubtless, with a population of more than 70,000, by far the largest in the country, you will be setting out to find whomever to interact with and share that challenge or opportunity you have in mind. It is also an eclectic mix of interests and preferences. You don’t want to miss that.
Target Audience
When you come to the NIW 2024, you come to knowing well whom you want to address based on your interests. Whatever you wish to showcase, the wide spectrum of audience—the various demographic segments, and their diverse tastes and preferences—should be able to serve those interests. Just consider carefully what it is you want to put across in relation to the product or service, and you will have all the capital out of the event. Business is really about communicating to the right audience, and your audience will be there waiting for your message.
Networking Opportunities with Government, Industry, SMES and Academia
If Samuel Goldwyn was the one writing this article, he would probably reword his famous quote to “The more people I meet the luckier I get.” The man believed that the harder he worked the luckier he got, and he did not lie; but you should work hard at meeting new people and establishing networks. At the NIW 2024 you will find and exploit various networking opportunities with government, industry, SMEs and academia. If someone calls you lucky, then they really don’t know that by being at the right place at the right time fortunate things happen.
Meet Prospective Employees
If you step back a second from the new graduates, there are several other job seekers (including older graduates of The UoN) you can find at the event to provide your business with that capacity you have been seeking for so long to help your business take the next leap.
You can be sure there will be a good number of such people at the event. That is something to look forward to because you will not then have to ask all those hiring agencies to recruit for you.
It is a chance to meet all those potential new hires in one place. I am not sure you want to pass up such an opportunity.