Hello All,<div><br></div><div>Innovation ?? I will agree with all of you, in the Kenyan perspective most of us have given up, first coz the policy makers are still in a &#39;slave mode&#39; in this mode you were raised &#39;poor&#39;, most of us were and if not poverty was all over, and now you have &#39;cheo&#39;, a good job and so the only way to ensure you do not go back to poverty is to steal as much wealth and thus make sure all your kids do not grow up to be poor, or you are in a comfort zone where you can afford stuff and your kids will of-course go to nice schools hence you are assured they will be fine. When I say poor those of us who have been in abroad know what am talking about, systems that work. This mentality is what is killing us, when you and I get to a point where you can afford most things including health abroad then that&#39;s the end. </div>
<div><br></div><div>This is the reason no one cares if we have hunger in the country, you can afford Petrol at 130 KSH !!! so how about unga, so solution to this import Maize ... We now have some policy that will take some time to work, Irrigation, but again who is to implement this, the guy in Turkana ?? NO he has no money... So are we innovative? maybe we are, but we are in the comfort zone ( the ones who should ) and the others are too poor. </div>
<div><br></div><div>The other is poor policy, take the example of the traffic issue, do we really need IBM to do this?? nope we could I bet any University tech student can do this, Mix Computer science students to handle the programming part, Electrical eng to handle the electronics and signaling, Mech for structural etc I mean this is what they do in those EU countries, for &#39;small&#39; projects.. but think about it you are the Mayor,Town Clerk, Minister etc would you give a local company, leave alone the students this job? NO why you need to &#39;eat&#39; and you think they will do a shordy job and ethnicity will be thrown in, so will be politics and a big hullabo and ofcorse the population will not think a good job was done so push it to a big multinational firm which will charge a fortune and you all know what happens,,, Lamu port Feasibility.... really Japan had to do this ??? </div>
<div><br></div><div>So Aki are we innovative, Yes and no, is govt policy good? Yes but the leaders do not not care they do not want to be poor again so they are corrupt, the rich are comfortable, middle class can afford Ipods at the moment, and the poor well, you need money to actualize the innovation, and so everyone gave up in their own way. I wont write off every one though I have to acknowledge some of our products, MPESA, MFarm etc I think they are quite good. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Oh Gisho... :-) HHO theory is rubbish :-) ... first law of Physics you cannot create energy what you are proposing is like chaining a Motor to a Generator, efficiency comes in more so the amount of energy used will still be available.... Dude think of a Hybrid .... </div>
<div><br></div><div>Me thots ... </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Watson kambo</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 20 June 2011 12:07, aki <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:aki275@gmail.com">aki275@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">@David, pls find my amatuer comments inline. :-)<br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote"><div class="im">On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 11:25 AM, David Kiania | Asentric Consulting Ltd <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:kianiadee@gmail.com" target="_blank">kianiadee@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>

<blockquote style="border-left:#ccc 1px solid;margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote">Aki,<br><br>In the EU video the whole notion of innovation as &#39;turning ideas into<br>money&#39; is wrong. There are plenty of innovations that don&#39;t have<br>

direct monetary value but greatly change the way people work, saving<br>time and effort.<br></blockquote>
<div> </div>
</div><div>Absolutely agree with you, and also add that level of creativity can only come when people have enough to sustain a basic lifestyle. That failed economic polices are the reason that most in developing countries will only innovate pegged to financial returns. They have no other options.</div>
<div class="im">

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<blockquote style="border-left:#ccc 1px solid;margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote"><br>Even the EU can&#39;t tell Africa what innovation is or what they ought to<br>do, our greatest innovations must be in the largest areas of need ...<br>

food, jobs for all and dealing with disease. We need to localize our<br>solutions, I am very encouraged to see people in Tharaka and Gatanga<br>tapping into local rivers/streams to generate electricity. Is that<br>innovation?<br>

</blockquote>
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</div><div>Fully agreed on this and that the EU was an example, and thus the need for local govts to set examples of innovation. For those who self powered using rivers etc are only doing it at a very local level, and that power generated does not contribute to the national grid except fix a local problem. When govt projects that affect National Interests, growth and job creations, then it becomes very different. </div>
<div class="im">

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<blockquote style="border-left:#ccc 1px solid;margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote"><br>TED issues aside, government has a role and in the case of Lockheed<br>Martin, they were contracted to build defense systems during cold war<br>

and could not trust any other company outside the US.<br></blockquote>
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</div><div>Basically developing govts need to understand that we are at war with anything that seeks to replicate creativity and innovation. And this war can only suceed if the right polices are in place. With more than 40 years of independence across the continent, we should have by now had parallel programs that look at saving on literally billions lost through foreign exchange as a start.</div>
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<blockquote style="border-left:#ccc 1px solid;margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote">Again if you know everything you produce will be taken up by your one<br>and only customer (govt of the US) how much innovation is there? You<br>

are approaching this from a very academic angle, innovators don&#39;t need<br>permission or policy from government to come up with new or improved<br>stuff they just do.<br></blockquote>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
</div><div>- The US govt had very specifc requirements for what armaments and technologies were needed, thus the innovation was not limited. How much of what we do today, especially in electronic communications, is derived from the space industry. You name it, and its all there. From atomic clocks, vsat systems to long range radios. And all these led to formations of companies that could deliver on requirements and finally leading to the consumer market. Listen to what the Lady EU commission said about Research to Retail in the EU clip.She is 100% spot on and know what she is talking about.</div>


<div> </div>
<div> To really help you understand the problem, please consider this:</div>
<div> </div>
<div> The winner at Pivot25 was MedAfrica, which had a proper concept and rollout. Now they need <u>money</u> to make the innovation work. What should they do to grow and make a significant impact ? Wait 12-24months in the hope of VC funding or dig into their own pockets to sustain an innovative idea until success? </div>


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<div> Rgds. :-)</div>
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<div> </div></div>
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