Applications for TED2013 Fellows

Applications for TED2013 Fellows are due by Friday, July 13, 2012 11:59pm US/Eastern. Click here to apply! Here are some of the Kenyan Fellows from 2010 – todate:

Juliana Rotich (Kenya/US) – Co-founder, Ushahidi.com; blogger, Afromusing and Global Voices

Erik Hersman (Kenya) – Co-founder, Ushahidi.com; blogger, AfriGadget and White African

Boniface Mwangi (Kenya) – Kenyan photojournalist and founder of Picha Mtaani, a youth-led national reconciliation initiative in Kenya

Su Kahumbu-Stephanou (Kenya) – Kenyan entrepreneur promoting the development of an organic food industry in Kenya

Alex Odira Odundo (Kenya) – Kenyan inventor of the Sisal Decorticator, a device turning sisal plant into fibre, and the Sisal Twinner, a device turning sisal fibre into rope.

Joel Jackson (UK | Kenya) – Auto innovator  – British mobility entrepreneur and founder of Mobius Motors, a Kenya-based company designing and manufacturing a first-of-its-kind affordable vehicle made expressly for the unique customer requirements and often-poor road conditions found in the developing world.

Cyrus Kabiru (Kenya) – Found object artist  – Kenyan self-taught painter and sculptor who primarily uses junk materials to make his works, including striking eyewear

Jessica Colaco (Kenya) – Researcher and Mobile Tech Evangelist

 

Africa stats: Broadband and messaging over a 5 year period

 

 

Smartphone connections as % of mobile connections

Smartphone connections as % of mobile connections in selected African Countries (2009-2014) via @MobileInAfrica

Mobile Trends in Africa by 2020

Nice summary of mobile trends by 2020 in Africa by various people in the mobile space in Africa and globally  such as Erik Hersman, Nathan Eagle…

What is Open Innovation?

According to Chesbrough, in his book “Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology” (2003) – Open Innovation can thus be described as: combining internal and external ideas as well as internal and external paths to market to advance the development of new technologies.

As I was keenly studying the diagram above and reflecting on the above, I had the following thoughts:

“Mental Frame 1″: iHub is an open space for the tech community in Kenya.

“Mental Frame 2″: The tech community in Kenya have great ideas.

“Mental Frame 3″: Great ideas lead to development of new technologies

Hence: iHub is an open space for the tech community in Kenya with great ideas that will lead to development of new technologies in Kenya. For us to embrace this thought we need to think about – Open Innovation!!!