The promoter of the InnovationBed Africa Initiative and the United Nations World Summit Awards (WSA) Eminent National Expert for Nigeria and Grand Jury member Mr. Amos Emmanuel (mNCS, FIIM) has concluded plans to partner with the 36 state governors in Nigeria, including the federal capital territory to promote innovation capacity development local hubs among youths across the country as well as emphasize the use of numerous home-grown ICTsolutions already springing up from numerous heroic innovation hubs, institutions by struggling, restless nation-builders from predominantly candle-lit shanties determined to fix the gaps prevalent in various sectors of their society.
The President of Programos Foundation and Chairman Innovationbed.Africa Initiative, who disclosed this in a press statement in Lagos recently, noted that though Nigeria has performed relatively well in past global innovation assessment of the WSA and its highly democratic Grand Jury, the country’s potential, as per Programos Foundation’s 10-year research pilot experience has shown that to strengthen the state innovation readiness index, will require our foundation’s true partnership with regional executive governors who should be seen to champion youth innovation capacity development whole-heartedly will foster the achievement of a sustained digital economy in Nigeria for which the Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry for Communication and Digital Economy Dr. Isa A. Pantami (FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, MCPN) had expressed he is poised to drive inclusively with the community for utmost prosperity of citizens in a fast-changing world.
Meanwhile, Programos Foundation has fashioned inclusive partnerships with leading technology experts of the World Summit Awards network led by Prof. Peter Bruck , UN ICT4SIDS partnership led Dr. Amjad Umar , Associate Professor at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, and Architect for UN-Strategic SmartCities ePlanner the (SDG Advisor) and Convener of the Innovationbed Pan-African SmartCities Workshop coming up in New York, April 15th – 16th 2020.
The objective of the ICT4SIDS Innovationbed research pilots in the 36 states of Nigeria is to support smart hubs that provide inexpensive and highly specialized community services in health, education, open government and citizen engagement, public safety, public welfare and decision support for all SDGs actions in the region.
These hubs are designed to collaborate with each other across communities for rapid regional transformation and thus lead to rapid adoption of Samoa Pathway and SDGs in Nigeria.
Activities of Innovationbed in each state in Nigeria is coordinated by an indigent innovator (Innovationbed State Regional Director) who must have been adjudged a WSA National Nominee having produced a pre-selected product of high social impact in the Nigerian society.
Other collaborations include Singapore-based Digital Opportunities Expert, Dr (Mrs) Danielle Plewe, Ceo, Opporizon.com, Campus2Corporate founder, Rajeev Jane – NASSCOM-India certified specialist in Business Agile Education and Faculty Development Initiatives, Alex Hung, Chairman Hong Kong New Emerging Technology Education Association, HKNETEA and WSA National Expert for China, as well as Global Digital Foundation – a digital policy think tank headquartered in Brussels with presence in Canberra, Washington DC and Lagos, led by Paul McDonnell who was Head of European policy at the Center for Data Innovation in Brussels.
As a long-standing stakeholder in the UN OCCAM process from Africa region, Programos Foundation has a mandate to present reports on its pilot administrations from Nigeria on: “How Smart Cities can fight poverty by eliminating slums and promoting innovation-enabled communities in the 774 local government areas of Nigeria” at the upcoming XX Infopoverty World Conferences 2020 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, US, April 17th, 2020.
Early partnerships from state executive administrations will deepen the data quality from Nigeria and for refining in future sessions.
This year, XX Infopoverty World Conference marks its twentieth anniversary. The conference, since inception in 2001, and which has served as Innovationbed’s pivotal opportunity base, pursues the mission of fighting poverty, providing innovative technological applications that can help a large mass of poor people, in order to solve their primary needs in terms of e-services, education, medical assistants, ability to produce food, and finally e-governance, providing basic welfare for all, clean energy and activating circular economy, moving in towards a digital society, really inspired by SDGs.
Innovationbed plans the Pan African SmartCities Workshop in partnership with NGE Solutions Inc , and designed for high-level representative of governments and corporate organisations, NGOs, Academia, Innovators from Nigeria and other African countries. Workshop will present the most up-to-date solutions capable of widening access and benefits to digital opportunities.
The statement added that Innovationbed.Africa has confirmed an early call for innovation submission for both junior category the Innovationbed-Nigeria Youth Digital Award 2020 (for innovators younger than 26 years), and the senior category Innovationbed-Nigeria E-Content Award 2020 (for innovators older than 26 years. which will represent the early process in Nigeria leading to the nomination of best e-Content innovations from the 36 states of the federation, including Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Innovationbed-Nigeria Youth Digital Award 2020 is Programos Foundation’s innovation tech-scouting, mentorship, promotion and evaluation process operated as a Student Program with discoveries leading to the United Nations World Summit Youth Awards, WSYA junior category competition from Nigeria for 2020.
Innovationbed-Nigeria E-Content Award 2020 is the innovation tech-scouting, mentorship, promotion and evaluation process for all senior-level, high profile innovations by Nigerian startups from the 36 states of the federation including the federal capital territory Abuja. Winners here are nominated into the global United Nations World Summit Awards, WSA (senior category) from Nigeria for 2020.
Here is the Junior Competition link for product submission (from Nigerians Only – Student Program):https://docs.google.com/form/de/1FAIpQLScNBGQONItHfC4FGaoRNiOXTGB5tuPAQo1EHvr3sbabYCAzpw/viewform
Here is the Senior Competition link for product submission (from Nigerians Only): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXhKyiDQMNBby4QTJyiB1RkqThY-OMDKvt2_BrCZ-6p5Hp6A/viewform
Programos Foundation president Mr. Amos Emmanuel said, “Digital technologies are powerful tools to tackle social challenges people face every day, so Nigerian youths from all the states must keep relearning from opportunities at their disposal, questioning things of doubts
as they go, and in effect, improving impactfully the society they live in, because the Innovationbed pilot process will expand their international network of opportunities without barriers.”
Innovationbed.Africa initiative whose current UN ICT4SIDS pilot administration has been based on Nigeria case study is expected to scale to many other Africa countries through a continental network of WSA Africa National Experts and other alliances.
Mr. Amos Emmanuel gave credit to upright Africans and the platform research council members, who are ever ready to support our work in terms of healthy easy access to relevant state government executives over the partnership endorsements, as well as helping to extend
awareness to innovators in each state who should participate for free in the annual global awards competitions.
All feedback to nigeria@innovationbed.Africa The WSA Nigeria expert, Amos, who is the Chairman/Chief Software Architect of Programos Software Group – the designers of CloudIntegra asset management real-time Stock-trading and back-office solution also stressed that innovationbed will bring about a strategic increase in inter-regional Africa innovation engagement fostering a sustained quality participation in the global World Summit Awards competition just as the European Youth Awards EYA system has galvanized Europe’s yearly lead of the global diameter of innovation by over 45% and Africa at a meagre 6 percent, while the rest of the world (Asia, Latin America & Carribean, Arab countries and the Middle East, and North America and Oceania) share 49% of winning performance. Africa has been steadily lowest and we believe with stronger collaborations as powered by Programos Foundation’s InnovationbedAfrica, the position will improve.