30 Oct 2023

Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub (BDIH) is set to host the SmartBots laboratory as a way to seize opportunities presented by the 4th Industrial Revolution (4thIR) and advance the country towards a knowledge based economy, by promoting national inclusiveness.

This was revealed by BDIH’s Finance and Procurement Director, Mr Diane Mongudi, at the end of the Innovation Botswana Day 2023 at the BDIH Science and Technology Park recently.

Mr Mongudi said BDIH remained committed to Botswana’s SmartBots initiative which government had deployed as a fourth industrial transformation digital strategy to drive digital transformation across the economy, government and society.

Therefore, he said, as a national agency committed to fostering an innovative culture and ecosystem and stimulating enlightening conversations around innovation, BDIH continuously aimed to reach a broader audience each year to share the wisdom of experts.

“We have achieved this goal today by engaging more speakers than ever before and you will be pleased to witness some of the innovative projects we supported and are already using technologies to drive Digital Innovation Fund,” he said.

He added that a SmartBots strategy, as a digitilisation programme, also greatly emphasised on the engagement on the entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem, including the public, private and community partnerships in tackling the successful execution of the SmartBots priorities and initiatives.

“Our ultimate goal is to develop home grown solutions, sold through newly established companies incubated here at BDIH, first in Africa and then globally,” he added.

The Innovation Botswana Day themed, Solve.Evolve, this year, is an annual Botswana’s key innovation and entrepreneurship conference.

Besides stall exhibitions that were open to the general public on the day where innovators showcased their creations and interacted with visitors, the event also featured panel discussions which explored the drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship in Botswana.

Topics covered under panel discussions, included the role of innovation in the knowledge economy, championing the economic inclusion agenda - the role of innovation, science and technology in the economy, mind-set change - towards the fourth industrial revolution, unpacking the Botswana case study on digitilisation as well as the role of mobile network operators in the digital economy.

Several projects that were displayed were of Botswana Innovation Fund beneficiaries. The fund is administered by BDIH and beneficiaries were continuously supported by the hub through various interventions such as incubation, capacity building and Intellectual property registration process.

For the projects to attain production and realise commercial value, Mr Mongudi pleaded with institutional investors, venture capitalists and financial institutions to provide additional funding.

Mr Mongudi thanked the Minister of Communications, Knowledge and Technology, Mr Thulagano Segokgo, for officiating the event as well as panellists and speakers for their contribution in championing insightful discussions on innovation and entrepreneurship.

He also thanked innovators and exhibitors for using the Innovation Botswana Day as a platform where they could showcase their products and services.

Sponsors, partners and other stakeholders were also appreciated for making the conference a success through their active participation and commitment, as well as the media for their continued support in expanding BDIH’s scope.

Meanwhile, Ked Liphi walked away with P50 000 as the first prize winner of the inaugural Mascom Innovators Pitch Challenge. Retrospace Enterprises and Double X Group got P30 000 and P20 000 as second and third prize winners respectively. EO Analytics emerged as a surprise fourth-place winner and walked away with P15 000. ENDS