iHub Research in 2013

January 30, 2013 Editor 0

iHub Research engages in community-oriented research and is therefore keen to ensure community collaboration at different levels. It is for this reason that we have recently initiated an Outreach Program to the community that will use various ways to raise awareness of our activities and foster collaborations with the iHub community, academia, research organizations, policy makers and other stakeholders with interests in research.

As we are situated at the nexus point of technology innovation in East Africa, we are also embarking on a new research project on the African Technology Innovation Index (ATII) funded by the African Innovation Foundation. This project seeks to trace the path of innovation in Africa and develop a standardized metric system for iterating the first African Innovation Index. This project brings iHub Research together with Nairobi University Research Fellows and comes at a time when iHub Research sets to foster collaboration with the Academia as a way of enhancing technology research capacity at the institutional level. iHub Research will offer strategic advice based on its expertise in tech research as well as assist in logistics planning.

In 2012, iHub Research conducted a study on the Open Data Pre-incubator, an experiment that aimed to increase the public’s ability to make sense of data while at the same time galvanizing engagement around critical public issues by creating mass usage open data applications. This year, we will expand our research around the project, and the Kenyan Open Data initiative in general, to explore their long-term impacts on matters relating to critical public issues. Consequently, we will contribute to understanding the role that technology intermediaries play in facilitating impacts from open data the value of such interventions in various governance settings.

 

iHub Research will also continue to conduct rigorous and relevant market research studies with corporate clients, start-ups and entrepreneurs. We will use this market research to provide value to the thriving tech scene by understanding various customer needs and tech requirements; market opportunities to be seized; and current and future trends both locally and globally.

The country is preparing for the upcoming general elections in Kenya. IHub Research comes in to inform these political discussions through three new projects namely, Umati, a flagship project monitoring online dangerous speech; the Uchaguzi monitoring and evaluation project, a critical analysis of the use of ICTs to monitor elections; and a cutting edge project that looks to develop a framework for validation of crowdsourced information. Through these projects, we seek to develop use cases, recommendations, and toolkits that will aid in informing other communities and countries on different uses of technology during election periods.

These are some of the new and exciting projects that iHub Research will be engaging in this year. If you have any queries or comments on these or our on-going projects, kindly address them to research@ihub.co.ke

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Categories: mLab

Tags: foster collaboration, iHub research