Ericsson innovation lab may be opening in Uganda — the first in Africa

February 15, 2014 Editor 0

Ericsson has been in operation in Africa for about 117 years. Besides the offices it has distributed allover the continent, it doesn’t have a research or innovations hub staged in situ.

Now, at the recent Swedish Ugandan ICT conference: Dorothy Okello, the commnications officer at the College of Engineering, Design Art and Technology at Makerere University invited Ericsson to pitch camp on the campus and open up an innovations lab. She decried continued sidelining by Telecom giants to the university. From the turn of events, Ericsson’s top managers invited her for further talks on how the  idea could be executed. Infact, it’s only Microsoft that set up a student’s and research hub at the College of Computing.

Undeniably, universities are the fountains of innovations and advancements in academia. Private and public companies ought to tap into this potential lest it goes to waste. For example through mentoring, refresher courses, maker faires et al

However, the Ericsson consumer lab located in Sweden is the laboratory from where the giant telecom equipment maker carry experiments and analyse reports, but this time around having the consumers as the focal point.

The difference of the innovations lab from the consumer lab is that it would not only foster students with the much needed practical skills but also tout Ericsson’s brand as a corporate social one.

Image via Telecoms.com

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Categories: Innovation

Tags: ericsson, Makerere University, Technology_Internet