KENYA/FILE: IBM and Kenya launch a research lab to develop technology designed to improve delivery of public services and save the country billions of dollars

Record ID: 362345

  • Title: KENYA/FILE: IBM and Kenya launch a research lab to develop technology designed to improve delivery of public services and save the country billions of dollars
  • Date: 14th August 2012
  • Summary: CLOSE UP OF COMPUTER SCREEN
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Business,Politics,Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVA60L87HVX3EH3SQUJDXZPJU5ZE
  • Story Text: U.S. computer services company IBM and Kenya have opened a research lab they hope will save the country billions of dollars by developing technology to improve delivery of public services.
    While IBM did not say how much it would invest, Robert Morris, Vice President for Services Research, said on Monday (August 13) it would be a "significant" amount.
    "We went through a very careful process of strategy and selection and we have found that all in Africa is of great interest to us in our mission of building a smarter planet but we have decided to start that mission in Kenya, and the reason for starting in Kenya was the outstanding resonance and reception that we received from the Kenyan government," Morris said.
    Kenya will contribute $2 million annually over five years, information and communication permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo said, with copyrights for resulting works being shared.
    Globally, IBM ploughs about $6.5 billion per year research and development.
    Kenya, Rwanda and other countries in east Africa have vibrant ICT sectors, typified by successful mobile phone-based money transfer services, bill payment services and mobile banking.
    "Where as before we were concentrating on a basic mission of producing IT, it was adequate for us to function in traditional countries like the United States and Europe but we have realized that if we are to fulfill our mission around the smarter planet, that we need to go to the countries which are going to have the youth of the future that have the most important and pressing problems and that has caused us to come to Africa," said Morris.
    Ndemo said while it was hard to quantify the savings from the resulting research, automating various government services would save billions of dollars.
    "There are several registries, which if we completely automated, our estimate is that we can plough back to the Exchequer up to 10 billion US dollars, that is 1/3 of the GDP, by simply creating efficiency through higher productivity," he said.
    IBM, which has a presence in more than 20 countries on the continent, said the single biggest challenge facing African cities was improving services such as water and transportation.
    In Africa, IBM, a bellwether for the IT industry because of its worldwide reach and breadth of businesses, already provides network support for telecoms firms and commercial banks, among others.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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