KTN Global Alliance Africa is releasing its Innovation Action Plan (IAP) at a launch event being held on Tuesday 9th November, 2021 in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Bringing together different stakeholders within the Ekiti innovation ecosystem, the IAP launch event will serve as a platform to showcase KTN Global Alliance Africa’s Place-Based Innovation (PBI) activities in the state.
In line with its long-term vision to enable the co-creation of more robust and innovative ecosystems in Nigeria and partner countries, PBI is a key intervention that provides room for local innovators to work together and create solutions to solve local challenges. Through a series of design workshops, local stakeholders in Ekiti came together to define the challenges in the state and co-create plausible solutions. The IAP contains outputs from these workshops and will be used collaboratively after the event to deliver a demand-driven programme.
Keynote speakers for the event include Ben Llewellyn-Jones, British Deputy High Commissioner, Lagos, Nigeria; Hon. Akin Oyebode, Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development, Ekiti State
Government; and Dr. Nee-Joo Teh, Head of KTN Global Alliance, KTN. There will also be two panel sessions including Dr Tope Aroge, Secretary General, Industrial Cassava Stakeholders Association of Nigeria; Omowumi Ogunrotimi, Founder, Gender Mobile; Joel Ogunsola, Co-Founder, Director of Partnerships and Sustainability, Tech4Dev; Prof. Ayo Ajayi, Lecturer, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti; as speakers.
Olamide Johnson, Country Lead, KTN Global Alliance Africa said, “The IAP launch event gives us an opportunity to engage local innovators and other stakeholders in the ecosystem to have important conversations on how to create an enabling environment where local innovation can deliver scalable impact. We have chosen Ekiti state as the region to pilot our Place-Based Innovation activities as indications show that the Ekiti innovation ecosystem is receptive to support and desires future growth.”
“A ‘Place-Based’ approach is more than simply the creation of regional and local innovation strategies. It harnesses the innovative potential of Ekiti State, through its commitment to strong networks and youth empowerment, to unlock the Ekiti State’ agricultural sector to become a key driver for jobs, food security, and Internally Generated Revenue for Ekiti State. KTN Global Alliance Africa team has been enthused by the genuine dedication and support from the Ekiti State community stakeholders in producing its Innovation Action Plan. We are honoured to work with Ekiti to achieve its ambition to become a beacon of knowledge and innovation for Nigeria,” said Dr. Nee-Joo Teh, KTN Global Alliance Africa Project Director
For more information about the IAP launch event, please visit – https://ktn-uk.org/programme/africa/
About KTN Global Alliance Africa
KTN Global Alliance Africa is a six-year project co-funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), with the strategic partnership of Innovate UK. Four project-level interventions were piloted in 2021 in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa with one of the interventions focused on Place-Based Innovation. For more information about the project, please visit https://ktn-uk.org/programme/africa/
Contact
Olamide Johnson, Country Lead, KTN Global Alliance Africa – olamide.johnson@ktn-global.org.
