KeNIA Launches 10-Yr Innovation Strategic Plan

The Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA) today unveiled a comprehensive Kenya 10-Year Innovation Masterplan to bolster its national innovation ecosystem and propel the country towards achieving ambitious targets for economic growth, job creation, and global competitiveness.

KeNIA, whose role is to connect people to turn research and ideas into successful businesses, aligned the masterplan with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 aiming to drive entrepreneurship and innovative thinking. Designed with an in-built participatory process, the masterplan has been a  collective effort.

However, there is a glitch as pointed out by Ababu Namwamba, the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy & Sports, “Intellectual property (IP) is the big fat elephant in the room. Even as we develop this ecosystem, we must protect IP rights. I know this is one of those weak links in the chain. We have lost so many innovations at the infancy stage because of the weak infrastructure around this.”

The national IP policy has plateaued at the draft level with the masterplan proposing its passing and enactment before the end of 2024. An occasion that will require close collaboration with the parliamentary committees to ensure that this gets to the docket for discussion and adoption. A revision is urged with input from the public.

Setting Ambitious Targets

The strategic plan is not short on ambition, aiming to create 10 unicorns (privately held start-ups valued over $1 billion) in 10 years, contribute 2 per cent to Kenya’s GDP through innovation-driven growth, create 1 million new jobs which would double or triple Kenya’s middle-class, elevate Kenya’s position in the Global Innovation Index to the top 50 from top 100 and to drive sustainable development through green innovation.

It will rely on identifying gaps by building on previous successes as highlighted by award-winning initiatives and progress noted in the Global Innovation Index 2023. It critically addresses issues such as limited innovation infrastructure, uneven access to resources, and the need for stronger IP protection. $100 million will be needed to activate the masterplan which will be hopefully gleaned from the private sector.

“While there are multiple structures supporting innovation, nationally, it has always lacked a stand-alone vision. There hasn’t been a common and coherent strategy, hence the gap filled in by this strategic plan,” stated Namwamba. Some of the ideas currently being executed include putting more effort into internet coverage in the rural areas, and policy guidelines to transform youth empowerment centres into hubs in a bid for access and inclusivity. The latter particularly aims at growing women-led start-ups and women-led hubs.

“This 10-year masterplan considered global best practices from other mature innovation ecosystems and contextualised them for our ecosystem. We hope that in addition to its primary purpose, this masterplan will also achieve some secondary goals,” said Dr Tonny Omwansa, CEO, Kenya Innovation Agency. Intended to be a yardstick to measure progress nationally, he also anticipated this would have “An educative impact on the ecosystem stakeholders and help create awareness on how KeNIA aspires to provide leadership and coordination.”

The Agency also unveiled the Kenya Innovation Week (KIW) 2023- Commonwealth Edition Report and CEIL Summit 2023 report. The reports detailed key resolutions that KeNIA intends to implement in partnership with innovation ecosystem stakeholders for the next year.