Roke Telkom receives a grant for covid19 innovation worth UGX 100million under the third phase of the National ICT Initiatives Support Program (NIISP) for outstanding innovation, Cogniware Insights Systems software that will help ministries and other agencies to monitor the spread of the coronavirus by tracking individuals.
The Uganda based telecom company is among other innovators that applied to participate in the National ICT Initiatives Support Program in April 2020 that was organized by the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance. NIISP Phase III called for applications from ICT innovators in Uganda while focusing on three main areas which were; applications to assist in the fight against Covid19, Health information systems and applications to improve service delivery.
Roke Telkom made it among the successful 45 innovators out of over 950 applications that would be funded by the government to further develop their innovation and enhance it for public use.
Also read: Here is the list of the 45 winning Ugandan innovators under NIISP
The Chief Commercial Officer at Roke Telkom, Michael Mukasa said, “Our team is honored to qualify as a beneficiary with a grant award amount of One Hundred Million Uganda Shillings (UGX100,000,000). We are looking forward to expanding on our innovation initiatives with further localization for deployment and use in Uganda and the region as a whole.”
He added that “In the fight against dangerous rapidly spreading infections such as Covid-19, Ebola, MERS, or SARS, the best strategy is to suppress the spread of the infection as quickly as possible,” explaining that, “We will develop a prototype with circumscribed data to promote and demonstrate the innovation to key Ministries and stakeholders. Through ingestion of sample data, the prototype will demonstrate how to digitally manage, monitor, track, and trace infected people.”
“The endorsement and recognition of the Cogniware Insights systems software by the Ministry of ICT conveys the important work that is happening behind the scenes with home-grown firms and their partners within the telecommunications sector,” said Michael Mukasa.
One of the biggest challengers for innovators in Uganda is the lack of support especially financial support that can help them progress further. In an initiative to address this issue, the government has embarked on various projects like the NIISP that directly encourage the participation of innovators in Uganda while giving them the opportunity to expand and grow.
Roke Telkom receives a grant for covid19 innovation and partners with a Danish company
More opportunity presents itself as Roke Telkom receives a grant for covid19 innovation to further develop the Cogniware Insights Systems software, it will be working in partnership with FSJ solutions, a Danish company whose goal is to ensure that data science and analytics along with digital solutions from around the world can reach areas where they are in short supply.
Mauricia Kayizzi, the Head of Product and Business Intelligence at Roke Telkom stated that, “We are appreciative for the support and the opportunity to advance ourselves through the lens of Uganda’s health sector.”
“For this project, we will be working hand-in-hand with FSJ Solutions to advance the learning of local teams and promote data analytics skill transfer as a way to build capacity and knowledge on how to use the software that will play a huge role in reducing further spread of Infections both now and in the future of our country,” remarked Kayizzi.
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