Brussels, 13 April 2022, OACPS: Kenya, through the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA),will be the latest Member State to benefit fromthe services of the Policy Support Facility (PSF) to develop guidelines to enhance technology transfer, commercialisation and coordination of innovation hubs.

The virtual meeting of the PSF service in Kenya, officially launched on 12 April 2022, brought together around 50 key national and international stakeholders, representing various institutions in Kenya (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, other ministries, universities, private sector organisations, innovation hubs and startups) as well as the Secretariat of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), the European Union (EU), and the Embassy of Kenya in Belgium.

Dr Norbert Richard Ibrahim, Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) of the Department of Political Affairs and Human Development (PAHD) of the OACPS, highlighted in his speech the importance for Kenya to effectively manage the rapidly growing network of innovation hubs which “constitute the backbone of an innovation community”, and to strengthen the innovation commercialisation process within research centres, universities and other institutions of higher learning. He stressed that more than ever since the COVID-19 outbreak, “we need to have robust and well-functioning innovation ecosystems aligned with the current, but also emerging national and international challenges”.

In his intervention, Mr. Stephen Wathome, the representative of the EU Delegation in Kenya, underlined that the PSF service isof utmost importance not only to the work of the EU in Kenya, but to the creation of jobs and announced private sector engagement and this ultimately for the benefit of the people of Kenya”.

Ambassador Jacob Kaimenyi, Kenyan Ambassador to Belgium and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, expressed his pride to see that Kenya now has over 200 Innovation hubs and encouraged the Kenya National Innovation Agency “to set the best example, not only in Kenya, but also in the region, (…) to be a role model in terms of managing and guiding innovation commercialisation.

Speaking on behalf of Ambassador Simon Nabukwesi, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Johnson Nanjakululu advised local partners to “give inputs that will ensure the relevance and effectiveness of the outputs” and to support the implementation of the future guidelines “so that collectively we build a stronger innovation ecosystem that will serve us all”.

The six-month service is the fifth of the Policy Support Facility (PSF) (after Lesotho, Mauritania, The Gambia and Timor Leste), launched in January 2021, by the  EU-funded OACPS Research and Innovation Programme, to enhance the quality and efficiency of R&I policy systems.

For more information on this PSF service, please download:

Please also visit the webpage of the PSF service in Kenya