Ten Nigerians startup innovations in Information Technology (IT) nominated by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) will represent Nigeria at this year’s Feature Stars competition as part of the annual Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX).
The 40th edition of the exhibition opens on Sunday at the World Trade Centre in the United Arab Emirates’ city, with contestants from over 80 countries.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ibrahim, who launched Nigeria’s pavilion at the exhibition grounds, expressed confidence in the feasibility of the startups selected to represent the country at the global competition.
Ibrahim said the tenacity of Nigeria’s participation at the event was not just for the participants to examine what was brought by other countries, but to also present the country’s innovation at the world stage.
“As we all know, last year we won the first position in the category of artificial intelligence. I do hope that this year we are going to do the same or even better than what we have achieved last year,” says Ibrahim.
The minister admonished all participants to maximise the benefits of participating in the event by attending exhibitions, conferences and other learning opportunities.
He also expressed hope that Nigeria’s attendance at the exhibition will aid the ministry and the country in implementing it’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) developed under his watch.
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NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Abdullahi, explained that the agency will be projecting its anchor-themes at the GITEX Africa Investment Forum (AIF) round exploring the new generation of entrepreneurs, investors and government leaders making the most of technology to continue bringing economic growth and prosperity to the continent generally, and Nigeria specifically.
Mr Abdullahi said Nigeria’s focus is on early recovery from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and sees strong economic rebound through the tech innovations of its youths even as it discovers the digital economy space to seek for global partnership so as to re-energise and re-engineer its economy.
“Nations are increasingly navigating the pandemic to keep their economy growing and avoid complete stagnation. NITDA’s firm belief in the Nigerian youth and the capacity of the tech innovation ecosystem to join in transforming the nation’s economy underscore the numerous support of the agency for youth entrepreneurship and specifically continuous sponsorship of startups to the GITEX.”
The organisers said GITEX 2020 will be the only major technology show to be held physically this year,
“As the only face to face technology event to be held in 2020, GITEX 2020 attendees will be able to hear key insights from a huge range of international speakers and influencers and interact with exhibitors across the conference agenda and exhibition areas centre on the key themes of 5G, AI, Analytics, Future Mobility, Digital Economies, Cybersecurity and Cloud and Edge computing – everything that will underpin the future digital living
GTEX 2020 is reinforcing post-pandemic recovery, offering the over 100, 000 visitors a real-life platform to explore opportunities and challenges beyond COVID-19.
“This year will feature 26 exhibition sectors from over 80 countries and an opportunity for a see-through on what’s coming next in the world of technology and business, as top technology enterprises, startups and think-tanks from around the world reveal their eureka moments and life-changing innovations.”
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