Secretary General launches East African Global Impact Challenge 2017
East African Community Secretariat; Arusha, Tanzania; 02 March 2017:
The East African Global Impact Challenge 2017 was launched today by the East African Community Secretary General, Amb Liberat Mfumukeko in the company of Dr. Nicholas Haan, Director of Global Grand Challenges at Singularity University in California, United States America.
The purpose of the SingularityU East Africa Global Impact Challenge is to foster moonshot innovations and startups that positively impact the lives of people living in East Africa, with an ability to scale and impact a billion people worldwide in 10 years.
The challenge is to submit an innovative idea to solve a critical social or environmental issue. This year’s theme is Climate Change, including solutions for prevention, adaptation, and mitigation. The innovative idea must have relevance in the East Africa Region as well as address a global issue. The innovation should utilize cutting-edge technology.
With financial support from Google, Singularity University will provide the winner full scholarship to its prestigious Global Solutions Program—a 10 week program held at Singularity University’s campus within the NASA Ames Research Park in the centre of Silicon Valley, United States.
The deadline for submission of applications is 23rd March 2017. The winner of the Challenge will be selected during a pitch event that will be held on March 23rd this year in Nairobi, Kenya.
Addressing the media at the launch, the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko stated that the East African Global Impact Challenge 2017 comes at a very important and appropriate time for EAC because it provides an opportunity for citizenry to get involved in getting solutions to critical social or environmental issues.
“The East African Community recognizes Climate Change as a very critical issue. We have addressed it in the 4th EAC Development Strategy and will continue to address it in both the EAC Vision 2050 and the 5th EAC Development Strategy’’, asserted the Secretary General.
The Secretary General informed the media that EAC aspires to build the region’s ICT capacities to encourage innovation and increase competitiveness. “We are delighted to collaborate with Singularity University to build bridges between the Silicon Valley in the USA and East Africa’’
On his part Nicholas Haan, Director of Global Grand Challenges at Singularity University said the overall mission of Global Impact Competition is to encourage East Africans to develop innovative solutions to regional pressing problems with the hope that some of these solutions would be actually implemented in those areas.
He informed the media that increasingly, technology was in the hands of innovators around the world–including the people who are most facing challenges. This is a great transformation and is certain to create a plethora of solutions on local and global scales.” added Nicholas Haan.
Director Haan disclosed to the media that the climate change was selected as a theme for this year because it has consequences for every industry, geographic region, and way of life.
“We are looking for applicants from any technology or science discipline because we know a challenge as huge as climate change can only be solved within the convergence of multiple disciplines and exponential technologies’’.
Application Criteria:
- The challenge is open to residents and citizens in East Africa Countries
- You must be age 21 or older on the first day of the GSP
- Must be fluent in written and spoken English
- Able to participate for the entire GSP17 program
- Applicants selected as finalists will be interviewed by a panel of judges on 23rd March 2017
Assessment Criteria:
- Degree of solution’s relevance to the theme of the challenge
- The regional relevance in solving the challenge in East Africa
- Feasibility, Viability and Coherence of implementing the idea
- Entrepreneurial and innovative potential, with a focus on technological novelty
- Applicant’s leadership experience and quality, profile, achievements, and potential
For more information on how to apply for the East African Global Impact Challenge 2017,please visit http://giceastafrica.info/
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For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno
Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department
EAC Secretariat
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255 784 835021
Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.