By Fredrick Obura
President Mwai Kibaki and IBM Global Chief Executive Officer
Ginni Rometty will sign an MOU to officially establish a research lab in Nairobi,
on Monday.
The lab, which is the first of its kind in Africa, will
assist in applied Information Technology research focused on solving problems
related to the continent’s agriculture, traffic congestion and automating
governance.
“IBM Research works
to find new ways to solve the most complex problems facing the world at present
– working on projects that leverage cutting edge technology to help resolve the
world’s challenges,” said a communication from IBM Communication Office.
In an earlier interview with tech insight at IBM gathering
in Las Vegas US, Steve Mills, the IBM Software Group Vice President said plans
were already complete and Nairobi will receive state of the art lab before end
of this year to support its rapidly growing software industry.
“We have an elaborate strategy for Africa during this year;
it includes increasing our investments in the region. We are coming up with the
research lab in Nairobi to take care of software development which is also an
area IBM is looking for its growth,” he said.
“There is a lot of investment going on in Kenya in terms of
IT, followed by interest from its government and the young generation. It is
part of our strategy to nurture these through a research and development
centre,” he added.
Mills who noted business potential in mobile devices said
IBM was ready to acquire companies successful in building great software for
the devices to improve cities across the world.
“Mobility is the new area of growth to IBM, our plan is not
to compete directly with software companies building solutions to mobile phones
or i-pads and etc but to look at various ways through which we can work
together,” he said at the 2012 IBM pulse concert in Las Vegas.
Visiting Nokia Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop also
said Nokia will putting up a research centre in Nairobi to support local
developers and applications running on its devices.
“From the various conversations I have had with different
stakeholders, it is clear that Kenya is full of opportunities and we will not
ignore the market,” said Elop
“All across Africa, people are discovering that there’s an
economy to be built. If business leaders jump in, there’s a glorious future for
Africa,” he said.
“We are going to
increase our investment by 25 per cent and hope to work with developers in
building applications that have greater impact to the majority.
The IBM team also recommended that the city leverage
Geographical Information System (GIS) technologies to effectively map and
monitor Accra’s rapid urban growth in real time.
A GIS system would
enable authorities to register the growing number of properties and businesses
in the city, and provide the basis for an integrated finance-management and
analysis system that would enhance revenue generation and service delivery.
Nairobi was one of 32 cities worldwide who each received
grants worth an estimated $400,000 in the second round of IBM’s annual Smarter
Cities Challenge initiative, joining Accra, Ghana, Rabat, Morocco and Tshwane,
South Africa selected for the programme in this year.
Source: Standard ©
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