Last week, the Centre for Frugal Innovation in Africa visited Nairobi, Kenya, for a range of meetings with local companies, policy makers, interest groups and research institutes.
View from the driveway of Southern Eastern Kenya University (for more photo's visit our Facebook page)
Meet new and old contacts
Goal of the visit was to meet with new and old contacts to further knowledge about local (informal) frugal innovation and to explore opportunities for future research. During the visit we met with, amongst others, policy officers of the Netherlands Embassy in Kenya, entrepreneurs in the security sector, representatives of the formal and informal pharmaceutical sector, and informal businesses from the 'Jua Kali' (informal sector in Kenyan Kiswahili) metal works sector.
'Jua Kali' metal workshop (for more photo's visit our Facebook page)
Responsible Innovation Project
The week long stay was also used to have a first look at the cases in the NWO funded 'Responsible and Frugal Innovations in the Water and Health Sectors in East-Africa' project the CFIA is currently involved in. In this light we visited the Philips East-Africa headquarters, a TAHMO site and met with representatives of Dutch Water Limited in Mombasa.
Workshop on "Frugal Innovation", organized in cooperation with the Institute for Development Studies of the University of Nairobi (for more photo's visit our Facebook page)
Old and new partnerships with Kenyan knowledge institutes
Other important elements of the program were the workshop on Frugal Innovation, which was organized on 9 June in partnership with the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Nairobi, and our visit to the Southern Eastern Kenya University (SEKU) in Kitui to discuss opportunities for collaboration and joint research.
Group photo with SEKU Deputy Vice Chairs Ng’aNg’a and Muasya, and Dr. Mwangi (for more photo's visit our Facebook page)