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The University of Nairobi’s innovation hub C4DLab has announced the launch of a bi-annual event aimed at building a community of student innovators, with the first “Young Innovators Forum” to be held in April.

C4DLab said the Young Innovators Forum is intended to spur the development of a community of student innovators, provide a platform for innovators to network, and to encourage engagement and collaboration between the university, industry and student innovators.

“The rising number of potential young innovators is an opportunity to harness their powerful minds in a bid to create a community of innovators and inculcate the culture of creativity, innovativeness and continuous learning,” said Dr Tonny Omwansa, director of C4DLab.

The first event is to be held on April 8, at the university’s Chiromo campus, and will take the theme of “innovation by the youth for a brighter tomorrow”.  The forum will feature keynote presentations, panel discussions, as well as in-depth case studies.

Omwansa said the event is expected to attract members of the academia, entrepreneurs, external organizations, government and members of the public. In particular the forum is aimed at those “who appreciate the value of innovation in their organizations and society”, he said.

The University of Nairobi last year also hosted the inaugural Nairobi Innovation Week, bringing together government, academia, startups and other stakeholders to celebrate and recognise local innovations.

The Young Innovators Forum builds on top of Nairobi Innovation Week, creating a more regular platform for student innovators to connect, C4DLab said.

“The biannual engagement with young innovators takes cognizance of the fact that the Innovation Week provides the much needed platform for constantly engaging partners in advancing the dialogue on innovation as well as moulding the base on which the innovative economy will be built, but being an annual event that requires rigorous planning, there is a need for another more regular and frequent engagement with the young innovators and industry,” said Omwansa.

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