Connected Kenya summit is back

Now in its 8th year, The Connected Kenya Summit will this year focus on the theme “Bridging the Service Gap”.

The summit will explore and identify gaps that need to be addressed in order to achieve maximum access to government services.

“This year, we are looking again into giving back to the community using the initiative Donate a Book and Connect a Community. We have identified Kwale Girls High School as our beneficiary for this year. We are therefore requesting you to donate a curriculum book and any other suitable reading material to support this noble course,” read a statement from Robert Mugo, Ag.Chief Executive Officer the ICT Authority.

This year’s objectives of the summit will be to identify gaps that may hinder the growth of the ICT business sector as well as share knowledge, best practice and lessons learnt based on experience in implementing ICT projects.

The first Connected Kenya was held in 2009 and focused on having IT move from just being technology to being an enabler that gets things done. Second Connected Kenya in 2010 had a focus on shared services, which focused on enhancing service delivery to citizens. The result was digitization of a number of government services to the citizens, which is still ongoing.

The third Connected Kenya in 2011 focused on “Innovation for the Citizens” through making data available for the citizen. This saw the launch of Open Data in the same year by President Mwai Kibaki.

In 2012, Connected Kenya marked the largest of its kind, placing a lot of pressure on ICT board staff due to the logistics involved. In the event, cable vandalism was one of the major issues arising. The telecommunication sector said a way was needed to protect such infrastructure as vandalism was eroding gains made in the sector.

Participants in Connected Kenya 2012 also agreed on the need of a unified private sector body that would represent the ICT sector on national ICT matters. More than an year later, the body is yet to be formed

In 2015, Connected Kenya expanded to Connected East Africa, where it was summit’s theme is ‘The Strength in Our Networks.’ The event will oversaw among other things the implementation of the Kenya ICT Masterplan-Caucus. The Caucases were formed following a request by the then Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Fred Matiang’i for support in overseeing the implementation of the projects outlined in the National ICT Master Plan launched in April 2014. The objective of the caucus groups is to ensure the interests of Kenya’s ICT sector stakeholders are represented throughout the ICT Master Plan implementation process and if necessary, in the review and updating.

The summit also seeked to recognize and celebrate women in technology for their accomplishments as leaders in business, visionaries in technology and women who made a difference in their society. The session will also seek to recognize a woman in the tech scene and award her. The session to be graced by such inspirational women as Hon. Rebecca Joshua Okwaci, Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, South Sudan.

The summit will also focused on the Netherlands Trust Fund III (NTF III) project that was launched in Kenya in February as well as look into Enterprise Kenya, a national accelerator that will catalyse innovations and provide entrepreneurs with needed support in their innovation journey. The initiative was an outcome of the inaugural Kenya ICT Innovation Forum held on 2nd and 3rd February, 2015 in Nairobi. The Summit will also featured an Award Ceremony that will celebrate innovation in ICT.

Some of today’s leading government projects have links with the Connected Summit. With its remarkable mix of decision-makers from government and leading ICT thinkers from industry, the Summit has enabled its participants to develop unique insights that allow them to successfully respond and design their engagement in