IBM RESEARCH LAB CONFERENCE HELD AT CUEA

Dr. John Kelly III, Senior Vice President IBM with CUEA Students

IBM hosted a conference on 7th February 2012 at The Catholic University of Eastern Africa in the learning Resource Center. The event was presided over by; Dr. Kamal Bhattacharya, director research Lab Africa; Dr. John Kelly III, senior vice president IBM; Dr. Bitange Ndemo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communications; and Mr. Paul Kukubo, the Chief Executive of the Kenya ICT Board.

In his welcome remarks the DVC Administration, Rev. Prof. Juvenalis Baitu, said that CUEA is happy to host IBM, the future of Technology. He thanked them for choosing CUEA to host the first IBM research lab in Africa.

Dr. Kamal Bhattacharya, director research Lab Africa, described what innovation means to us in Africa. Dr Kamal observed that Mobile owners are the most in sub-Saharan Africa especially among the youth. Moreover, people in sub-Saharan Africa save than anywhere else in the world. Calling on the participants to own the project and be part of the journey, Dr kamal stated “Africa is not just moving, it’s unstoppable and we are just guiding it. I cannot make a difference but we can, it is a collaborative effort.”

Echoing these sentiments Dr. John Kelly III, senior vice president IBM confirmed that “the challenges we face in Africa are bigger than IBM can handle and hence the need for partnership with Governments and universities.” Dr. Kelly said the role of IBM research includes using data to; research on water filtration for purification, control and monitor traffic and security in cities, double output of food, and enhance smarter solar energy.

Speaking at the conference the Information and Communications Permanent Secretary, Dr. Bitange Ndemo, thanked all participants who worked to ensure the realization of the 12th research laboratory in the world. Dr. Ndemo agreed that there are areas Kenya wants to collaborate with IBM. More specifically, he said that we need to double food output as land is not increasing. He remarked that “research shows that people we call framers are idlers. Only one out of ten has the capacity. We therefore encourage urbanization and change form small-scale farming.”

According to Mr. Paul Kukubo the Chief Executive of the Kenya ICT Board, the ICT board will be supporting 5 research scientists and in 25 years, we will have 25 research scientists from Africa and Kenya. Mr. Kukubo called on the participants in the conference to uphold the culture of using knowledge of innovation. “A lot of what we do doesn’t have scientific sponsorship. However, with a research lab it means there is a way of proofing this.” He said.