Innovate Kenya ’13: Idea Challenge for Secondary School Inventors
Young Kenyan students can now showcase their problem solving inventions and receive support to actualize them, thanks to the ‘Innovate Kenya ’13 Idea Challenge’. This can see them join the ranks of Kelvin Doe, the 15-year-old Sierra Leonean whiz kid who in 2012 built an FM Radio Station and power generator from scratch courtesy of “Innovate Salone” hosted by Global Minimum in his country.
Kelvin went on to wow global audiences starting from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston) to a viral global online viewership. Innovate Kenya Competition too aims at creating a similar system where young Kenyan students can identify pressing issues in their communities, invent a solution and be provided for with a platform to transform them to reality. “This is the biggest and greatest initiative that has ever come to our country,” says Musician Frasha of P-Unit. Together with Eric Wainaina and Juliani, they are the Innovate Kenya Ambassadors and have marshaled the support of other artists like DNG and Chieftain besides one of Kenya’s top ICT policy makers Dr. Bitange Ndemo.
This year, students from any secondary school in Kenya can participate by forming teams of 3-5 students and presenting their proposals to Innovate Kenya in English before the May 22nd deadline. The competition specifically targets inventive solutions in the fields of Health, Energy, Education, Agriculture, Transport, Telecommunications, Civic Media and Engineering. A selection panel comprised of local and international experts will then come up with a list of up to five teams by June 9th which will be provided with US $ 500. The sum will be used by the teams to set up engineering prototypes over a two-month period ending August 30th.
At the end of the competition cycle, two teams will be selected by the judging panel as winners and provided with US $ 1,000 which is meant for purchases of materials and actualization of the projects. What’s more, a few select finalists will get a chance to attend the Elmina Innovation Academy in Ghana from July 2nd -21st in a fully paid for trip. We echo Eric Wainaina’s statement on endorsing the project, that gone are the days when we were waiting for people to come and help us. It’s time to do it ourselves.
How to apply: E-mail an attached proposal document to apply@innovatekenya.org with the subject “Project Proposal – School Name”. Any queries and inquiries can be channeled to info@innovatekenya.org or call Francis Meyo on +254(0)705 301891.You can also find all the details via www.innovatekenya.org
