Kenya will for the second time in three years host a summit organised by The Economist Events on February 1st 2017 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, in Nairobi. The day long summit themed ‘Driving economic and health-care innovation for tomorrow’s Africa’ is expected to bring together local and international delegates drawn from the private sector, the business community, African governments, media and international bodies.
According to the organisers, the high-level summit will explore how African economies can effectively innovate and navigate through the challenges experienced in health care, infant health, infrastructure, productivity, education and make changes in their already established systems.
“The ‘Innovating Economies’ Summit will bring together institutions, investors and innovators from diverse industries with policymakers from across the continent to discuss the changes and benefits brought on by high-tech inventions and technology as well as policy interventions and business processes that add value and solve real challenges,” said Sunayna Sethi Senior Programme Editor EMEA at The Economist.
Nairobi’s bold growing profile as an innovation and entrepreneurship hub informed the decision to have the summit held in the city. Sunayna is of the opinion that Kenya has emerged as a continent-leading country for innovation, making Nairobi the natural choice for a conference that focuses so heavily on innovation and the technology sector.
“Nairobi has been described by many as 'Africa's Silicon Valley', with an established tech scene and start-up incubators like iHub, which has spawned over 1,300 jobs. Technology accounts for over 8% of Kenya's GDP. The Kenyan government has also shown commitment to growing the sector even further, improving IT infrastructure and making it easier for entrepreneurs to set up their own start-ups” said Sunayna.
Recently the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa will slow to 3% this year due to low commodity prices urging them to diversify away from an over-reliance on revenues from natural resources and transition to services and knowledge based economies to ensure sustainable progress. “There is a need for innovation in the literal sense: a need to make changes to established economies and their frameworks by introducing new methods, ideas, and products. These are some of the areas to be deliberated upon in the Nairobi summit” adds Sunayna.
“The ‘Innovating Economies’ Summit will bring together institutions, investors and innovators from diverse industries with policymakers from across the continent to discuss the changes and benefits brought on by high-tech inventions and technology as well as policy interventions and business processes that add value and solve real challenges,” said Sunayna Sethi Senior Programme Editor EMEA at The Economist.
Nairobi’s bold growing profile as an innovation and entrepreneurship hub informed the decision to have the summit held in the city. Sunayna is of the opinion that Kenya has emerged as a continent-leading country for innovation, making Nairobi the natural choice for a conference that focuses so heavily on innovation and the technology sector.
“Nairobi has been described by many as 'Africa's Silicon Valley', with an established tech scene and start-up incubators like iHub, which has spawned over 1,300 jobs. Technology accounts for over 8% of Kenya's GDP. The Kenyan government has also shown commitment to growing the sector even further, improving IT infrastructure and making it easier for entrepreneurs to set up their own start-ups” said Sunayna.
Recently the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa will slow to 3% this year due to low commodity prices urging them to diversify away from an over-reliance on revenues from natural resources and transition to services and knowledge based economies to ensure sustainable progress. “There is a need for innovation in the literal sense: a need to make changes to established economies and their frameworks by introducing new methods, ideas, and products. These are some of the areas to be deliberated upon in the Nairobi summit” adds Sunayna.
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