Nairobi to host digital innovations exhibition

Eyeballs CEO Martin Muli speaking during  Social Media Awards.  (Photo: Standard)

By Standard Digital Reporter

Nairobi, Kenya: Nairobi will host an exhibition on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) this week to give companies and individuals opportunity to showcase their research, products, new services and innovative creations.

The exhibition themed Powering the Digital Future will link today’s research and innovations with visions for the future. It will be held at the Sarit Centre from March 7^th to March 9^th.

In an attempt by ICT stakeholders to bridge the gap between the high rate of digital innovations and slow market penetration the exhibition will be enhancing public awareness, adopt different products and also provide a platform to showcase different digital products and services.

Exhibitors are drawn from ICT, media, education, agriculture, tourism and hospitality, entertainment and lifestyle, and finance among other sectors of the economy. Established companies such as Safaricom, Nokia, Google (bebapay), Techno, Squad Digital, Standard Digital, Nailab and M-Farm will be in attendance.

The exhibition is organized by Eyeballs Events and Marketing Limited, which successfully organized the first Social Media Awards (SOMA) last year.

Eyeballs CEO, Mr. Martin Muli, says the economy will lose out on the high growth in ICT industry due to lack of awareness and high prices, which limit access to available technologies.

“The digital fair will be a platform for the public, ICT researchers, learning institutions, the business network and regulators to share experiences and reflect on expected impact of the evolving digital technology,” says Mr. Muli, adding that low awareness of digital innovations has hampered the promotion of the ICT agenda by the Government.

Numerous entrepreneurs, working out of the innovation hubs in Nairobi have developed  applications targeting various sectors of the economy but their works have not been recognised.

Mobile apps are particularly being developed at a very high rate owing to strong belief that mobile phones will shape the future of technology in the country due to the large number of users.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) statistics show that mobile phone subscriptions reached 30 .7 million against a population of 41 million in 2012

A recent study on mobile phones applications, however, reveals the uptake of such apps has been disappointingly low, especially among poor households.

The study titled, The Gap between Mobile Application Developers and Poor Consumers: Lessons from Kenya also blames the slow uptake on applications that are not informed by thorough research on the problem space and possible solutions.

The study whose findings were released in December 2013 was done by Tonny Omwansa, Timothy Waema (University of Nairobi) and Angela Crandall of ihub.