Philips innovation hub boosts Nairobi's ICT status

waltham · 2014-03-21T13:32:28+00:00

iday, March 21, 2014 Philips innovation hub boosts Nairobi's ICT status comment Comments Print JJ van Dongen, Senior Vice President & CEO Philips Africa. "We want to tap into the citys vibrant R&D eco-system and contribute to the process of co-creating new solutions, new business models and meaningful partnerships to provide innovations that make an impact," he said. JOSHUA MASINDE In Summary The Innovation hub is working on the development and clinical testing of a robust and affordable Automated Respiratory Rate Monitor that aims to support the diagnosis of pneumonia among infants and children. advertisement By JOSHUA MASINDE More by this Author Royal Philips Friday announced the establishment of its Africa Innovation Hub in Nairobi, which underlines its confidence in Kenya's talent and innovation abilities. Kenya's efforts to establish a technocity, the presence of the iHUB in Nairobi, and talented human capital are the key reasons Nairobi is Philips first choice for its innovation hub in Africa. "With Kenya as a leader in the continent in science and entrepreneurship as well as a hub of collaboration on technology and innovation, Nairobi, is the ideal location to establish Philips African research presence," said JJ van Dongen, Senior Vice President & CEO Philips Africa. The project comes after US technology firm IBM setup an IBM Innovation Center in Nairobi to encourage enterprise growth through research and innovation The Philips Africa Innovation Hub will work both on the creation of new inventions, as well as bringing these inventions to the market. The Philips Africa Innovation Hub will do application-focused scientific and user studies to address key challenges like improving access to lighting and affordable healthcare as well as developing innovations to meet the aspirational needs of the rising middle class in Africa. The Philips Africa Innovation Hub will be located at the Philips East African Headquarters in Nairobi, where African talents and international researchers will operate on the concept of open innovation and will work in close collaboration with the R&D ecosystem of Kenya and Africa. Philips is in discussions with local organizations and Universities on R&D collaborations to co-create meaningful solutions for Africa. Pneumonia The Innovation hub is working on the development and clinical testing of an affordable Automated Respiratory Rate Monitor that aims to support the diagnosis of pneumonia among infants and children, using smart sensing technology on the body which is intended to be more accurate and reliable compared to manual processes being currently observed. This device will be specially designed for use by community health workers and nurses in rural areas. In Kenya, discussions are on with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) to further develop this project and co-create an effective solution tailored to circumstances in rural Africa. The hub is also working on the development and testing of a work-flow innovation designed to reduce the number of avoidable maternal and child deaths. The purpose of the workflow is to enable remote area health centers to diagnose, triage, treat, stabilize and (prepare for) transport expectant mothers that come in for a check-up and treatment. Philips has designed a smokeless cook stove to improve the lives of those who rely on wood or biomass for their daily cooking. These specially designed stoves are extremely efficient and significantly reduce the use of wood as fuel. The cook stove can reduce smoke and carbon monoxide emissions by more than 90 per cent compared to an open fire (2) thus reducing the health risks of indoor cooking. The contribution of the innovation hub is to create new go-to-market models for these stoves. It is also working on consumer solar solutions to improve access to lighting in Africa, for the majority of the population that lives in off-grid communities. The Innovation hub is designing and developing new consumer products using the combination of solar power and energy efficient LED technology.

Thread starter waltham
Start date Mar 21, 2014

waltham

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Philips innovation hub boosts Nairobi's ICT status

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