Kibaki awards youth innovations at STI Forum

Kibaki award youth innovators at the first STI Forum in Nairobi (Photo By Arsenio Manhice) By Maxwell Awumah (Ghana) It would take drastic multi-sectoral collaboration across the private sector, academia, and research scientists to bring African inventions and innovations from the research laboratories and staples to the market place. Young scientists are still looking up the skies waiting for breakthroughs to stable finances and collaborations across the innovation pipelines and ecosystems for actual implementation of ideas. This represents the concerns of young scientists and inventors, who were honored by H.E Mwai Kibaki, the president of Kenya for distinguishing themselves in their fields of research at the first African Forum on Science, Technology and STI for Youth Employment, Human Capital Development and Inclusive Growth in Nairobi, Kenya. An awardee, Morris Mbetsa, Chief Executive Officer of Mbetsa Innovations, who designed an ICT appliance that uses mobile phone to track car and other security systems, said his company would need partners and financial resources to reproduce the invention enmasse. He expressed difficulty with breaking the jinx and appealed to public and private entities to rise up towards moving the inventions to the next and crucial phase. Another inventor, Calvince Okello, CEO of M-Shamba, with an innovation in the use of mobile phone as an interactive medium for the dissemination of agri-information said “dreams are good but practicalising them is better.” “Support from all fronts has been elusive,” he told WFSJ. CEO of Kupata Technology, Elijah Kupata innovator of a 3G Mobile remote camera with the capacity to record effigies of intruders. Two institutions, the Moi University and the Machakos Technical Training Institute won in the institutional category. They discovered the tanning of dyes and the separation of the various colors components and innovation based on seed absorbing in addition to the a system to sieve sand. President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, who presented awards and certificates to the inventors and innovators pledged government’s support. The awards were sponsored by the African Development Bank (AfDB).