The East African Science and Technology Commission (EASTECO) organized the first Youth Innovation Forum from 8th to 10th November 2022 in Kampala, Uganda which culminated in Presidential Innovation Awards for six best youth from the Eastern Africa Region. The Forum was organised by EASTECO in collaboration with Ministry of East African Community Affairs, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Uganda National Council of Science and Technology and other stakeholders. The theme of the Forum was “Unlocking Youth Development potential through Innovations”.
Objectives
The objective of the East African Youth Innovation Forum was to identify and support relevant youth innovations regionally and to build capacity in entrepreneurship skills that addresses socio-economic challenges in the EAC region. The Forum sought to: Identify and support talented youth innovators in developing scientific and technological solutions for societal needs; providen innovative space for nurturing talent and accelerating start-ups; provide entrepreneurship skills for youth creativity and job creation through capacity building; create a platform (web-portal) for interlinking an ecosystem of young innovators with industry, academia and the private sector; establish a Presidential Innovation Awards scheme for the youth 2 with outstanding innovations; and avail a forum for highlighting success stories of home-grown innovations, best practice, methods and concepts.
Rationale
According to the East African Community, in 2014, up to 34 per cent of the total population of five of the EAC partner states (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda) was between 15 and 34 years of age, which is the active youth bracket. In 2016, South Sudan joined the Community, bringing the population of the region to 158 million. With an overall population growth of around 2.9 per cent and the progress of the national education systems within the EAC region, the youth population is not only growing but it is also getting better education. If this human capital is channelled toward productive and innovative sectors of the economy, the youth population will offer tremendous opportunities as a major instrument for the social and economic development of the EAC Partner States and for a high competitiveness on the global market.
However, failing to prepare and to harness the youth population as businessmen and worker transformation leaders would lead to significant threats to social and community cohesion as well as political and governmental stability. This, in turn, would significantly affect the regional integration agenda.
Therefore, EASTECO, being the lead institution for the EAC in developing and promoting technological innovation within partner states, has a critical role in ensuring that the region’s talented youth are promoted and become performing actors and future leaders for the industrial and enterprise sectors. In this regard, the Youth Innovation Forum was hosted to offer a platform to catalyse the effective engagement of young people in steering the course of future developments within the EAC.
Key observations during the Forum
The Forum offered a platform to catalyse the effective engagement of young people in steering the course of future developments within the East African Community (EAC) through innovations. It further brought together young researchers, developers and innovators, entrepreneurs, finance actors, academia and public policy makers to discuss the regional situation and latest trends in research and development as well as innovation and product development. The Forum enabled participants and EASTECO stakeholders to understand the challenges that the youth in the region face in advancing their talent in technological development, in addition to the opportunities available for innovation in the regional marketplace and globally.
Presidential Awards
The Youth Innovation Forum culminated in presidential awards that recognized outstanding applications developed by East African youth as well as outstanding youth innovators capable of 3 stimulating the local innovation eco-system. The selection process involved advertising the Youth innovation programme in the media in each partner state and on EAC and EASTECO website calling for application submissions online from eligible young innovators (in two categories 12-18 years of age and 18-35 years of age) in the 10 priority themes/categories (Agriculture, Health, Education, Climate Change and Environment , ICT mobile applications, Energy and Infrastructure, Industrialization and Trade, Aeronautics and Space Technology, Financial Services, Media and Entertainment).
