NA Editorial
Last week, the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) launched the “ATU Africa Innovations Challenge 2020”, a competition designed to identify and support young African innovators who have developed useful mobile applications to assist in the fight to contain Covid-19 and other future emergency situations on the continent.
According to a note from Notícias de Angola, the Secretary General of the ATU, John Omo, announced that the winner of the competition’s main prize will take home a cash reward, worth 5 thousand dollars, in addition to being involved in other mentoring and partnership programs.
“This challenge will be fundamental to recognize, test and highlight disruptive innovations and new business models that have the capacity to redefine Africa” said John Omo, who also reinforced the importance of African institutions in supporting initiatives that create, innovate and supply the continent.
The launch event whose discussion focused on the theme: How can Africa rise above the impact of COVID-19 through innovation; brought together a range of innovators, ministries, ICT regulators, academia and ICT organisations.
Also speaking during the launch event, Chief Guest Hon SEM Mamadou Nogo, Minister of Communication, Digital Economy, Post, Information and Communication Technologies, Côte d’Ivoire, reiterated the need and urgency to do everything possible to support the struggle against covid-19, including through initiatives such as the Africa Innovations Challenge.
Announcing Huawei as the title sponsor, Omo stated:” We are happy to bring Huawei on board. For more than 20 years, Huawei has been building ICT infrastructure, promoting ICT skills and enabling ICT innovation across Africa.”.
Vice President of Public Relations for Huawei North Africa Region, Loïse Tamalgo, who was also part of the event highlighted the value of innovative approaches to growth on the continent, as well as the company’s dedication to investing in talent development. “We look forward to working with ATU to bring out the creativity and entrepreneurship that resides in African youth”he declared.
The event was also used to unveil the ATU’s new logo as part of the Union’s rebranding effort.