Through the ‘Digital Leap’ project, Rwandan innovators and startups are benefiting from the Rwanda Government-JICA partnership.
Rwandan startups and individuals stand a chance to win at least Rwf130 million in a design contest aimed at helping Rwanda Polytechnic to digitize the Students and Staff E-portfolio Management Systems.
The design contest which kicked off on April 18 and applications closed on April 26 is a part of the ‘Digital Leap’ initiative, a partnership between Rwanda Government, through the Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
The project has a primary goal of establishing a market for an innovation model to foster a dynamic ICT sector in Rwanda, supporting the nation’s aspirations of becoming an ICT hub in Africa. The Project encompasses four major outputs.
Among them is strengthening the entrepreneur supply system by enhancing the nationwide ICT entrepreneur support environment as well as the innovation ecosystem of Rwanda through market creation via a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model and leveraging data.
The collaboration between Rwanda Government and JICA also seeks to build capacity for orchestrating ICT-related initiatives in Rwanda and establishment of the Rwanda Digital Innovation Model for market expansion in innovation.
The overall objective of the project is to create market opportunities and foster innovation in Rwanda’s ICT sector, supporting the nation’s aspirations of becoming an ICT hub in Africa.
A press release from Innovate Rwanda, the design contest under Rwanda Polytechnic, gives startups the opportunity to design a solution which will reduce manual processes that hinder collaboration.
The solution will also help to enhance monitoring and sharing of data between students and staff and also reduce scalability challenges and it targets young innovators, professionals and startups.
Innovators who are eligible and can come up with the software on equal terms, regardless of the size of the start-up, will be able to win a cash prize of $100, 000 and retain the solution.
Under the design contest terms, the solution must be designed locally and it should be able to contribute to the digital transformation of the education system.
Young innovators and startups can register through https://workflow.stack.dev.risa.gov.rw/jw/web/userview/ppiRegistrationId/su/_/createAccountPPI to submit their ideas.
Rwanda Government, through MINICT and JICA signed a technical cooperation agreement in 2022 which saw the roll out of a four-year project named “Digital and Innovation Promotion Project”.
The project is aimed at establishing a “Rwanda Model” by expanding the market for innovation.
