The Hon. Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Ms. Judith Nabakooba has visited youth Innovation Hubs in and around Kampala which are funded under the Ministry’s National ICT Innovations to witness first- hand how the youth are coping with innovating for sustainable livelihoods.
Nabakooba visited Makerere Innovation and Incubation Center (MIIC) which was started in 2017 jointly by Makerere University, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of ICT under the ICT Innovation Ecosystem at the University.
The MIIC can accommodate 50 innovators at a time who can attend trainings which improve their innovations. The center carries out various partnerships and trainings which have attracted several ICT Innovators and led to commercialization of some innovations . Nabakooba said that MIIC promotes research in 4IR technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data.
At MoTIV Hub in Industrial Area which was created 2 years ago utilises digital technologies to improve various industries like carpentry, welding, video editing, fashion Industry among others. Currently the centre employs and trains over 400 youths in various fields. MoTIV focused on assembly and manufacturing which is one of the key NIISP Objectives.
In Ntinda, the Minister visited the much talked about Innovation Village which e has been in existence for 5 years now. It is a private hub which promotes digital product development. The facility hosts small start-up companies which are still young to survive on their own.
Nabakooba said that the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance through NIISP has supported other hubs which include ,Hive Colab, Outbox, RANLab, Camtech – Mbarara and TechBuz.
The Ministry is also partnering with Universities to set up hubs – and MOU’s have been developed
with Muni, Soroti and Gulu Universities. Nabakooba promised that many more youth innovators shall be supported in similar programs to create jobs and wealth .
