Kampala Innovation Week (KIW) is set to become an annual event to bring together all players from across the different sectors that make up the startup ecosystem for a week. Pioneered by the Innovation Village, it'll be a joint effort by all the hubs in Uganda.
This year's will take place at The Innovation Village, Design Hub Kampala in Industrial Area and at Outbox Hub along Lumumba Avenue.
This is the first edition and set to feature over 50 speakers, corporate innovators, representatives from the public sector, industry thought leaders, experts, entrepreneurs, investors as well as startups from Uganda and the region.
These will collectively explore the opportunities to work together to build a connected ecosystem, which is one of the missing gaps in grooming sustainable startups.
At the core of Kampala Innovation Week is the fundamental belief that Innovation can be a transformational tool to solve the biggest challenges in the private, public, academia and civil society. It will highlight existing solutions that solve real local challenges while creating the motivation for new solutions to be built for those challenges not yet solved.
Meet Mr. Hiremath; legendary Indian innovator with 670 innovations to his name. He releases two innovations a month & gifts some of the patents to young entrepreneurs!
Find him at the Kampala Innovation Week. Focus on “How to Innovate for the bottom of the pyramid”@kiw17_ pic.twitter.com/f27hnk3ekF
— CK Japheth (@CKJapheth) November 26, 2017
The theme is Innovation for socio-economic transformation; the case for building a connected ecosystem. The week is a first attempt to connect the dots and build bridges that will converge multiple stakeholders acting as one force for good.
In attendance, the organizers are expecting Entrepreneurs and innovators, Local and regional investors and VCs, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), Corporate Sector Companies, SMEs and other private sector players.
The event, which will run from Monday to Friday, will be opened by Hon. Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister for ICT and National Guidance who'll kick it off with a tour of the innovations on display.
Related: What Parallel Kampala Innovation Week Events Should Tell Us About the Ugandan Startup Ecosystem
The program for the days of the week, with events taking place in three different places - Outbox, Innovation Village and Design Hub Kampala - will cover the following.
Monday will cover the Private Public Partnerships for Innovation and understanding the Innovation journey. The speakers will explore the building blocks to converging the public, private, academia, development partners and investors as one force for good in building Uganda's innovation ecosystem.
On Tuesday, the Investment journey for Innovators will be covered. Speakers will be looking to dissect whether our financing options are limited or not. This is because, according to a report by Village Capital - released mid-this year - stating that over the last 3 years 72% of financing for innovation has gone to 3 firms while 95% of our entrepreneurs die in their first year of operation.
Different financing options for startups shall be explored through partnerships and the different funding required at the different stages.
Wednesday, will see scaling infrastructure for innovation tackled and Thursday smart insights, smart data. Lastly, on Friday, selected startups building transformational solutions will be explored at length.
Some of key speakers include R.S Hiremath, an innovator, John Brittle - an investor, Kenneth Legesi, from Kampala Angel Investment Network, Peter Kahingi, from NITA, Kin Kariisa from NBS, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba from UTAMU, Arthur Kwesiga from URSB, David Birungi from UMEME and Patrick Bitature from Simba Group.
The Kampala Innovation Week is sponsored by Impact 2 Impact, MTN, Centernary Bank, DTB Bank, Bowmans, YO!, BUZZ! and NBS TV. For more details about the week's entire program, click here.