NITDA is living up to its resolve of making Nigeria a digitized society the world will be proud of through various tech related programs. Recently the Agency sponsored ten Nigerian startups to GITEX 2020 fair in Dubai.
Dubai World Trade Centre is preparing to open the landmark 40th edition of GITEX (“Gulf Information Technology Exhibition”), the only major in-person technology event to go live in 2020. This event is billed to run from today 6th December 2020 to 10th of this month.
GITEX 2020 will host showcases from innovative nations, including Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, France, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, among others.
GITEX Technology Week will serve as an umbrella event for the region’s leading technology shows, including GITEX Future Stars, the region’s biggest tech startup event; the Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference (GISEC), the region’s largest cybersecurity conference and exhibition; Future Blockchain Summit, the leading Blockchain festival, as well as the inaugural edition of Marketing Mania, the new platform dedicated to brand tech marketers.
Nigeria’s participation in GITEX 2020 is anchored on promoting youth-led enterprises to showcase innovations coming from its tech startups community, and the country’s strong policy-thrust on the digital economy.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is the agency championing this move and had offered full sponsorship to startups drawn across the country to participate in the Global Future Stars (GFS), a major highlight of GITEX 2020 offering a strategic window for the country’s startup community to leverage world-class exposure, angel investors and mentors.
It will be recalled that one of the sponsored startups, Chiniki won the top prize for Artificial Intelligence innovations at the 2019 GFS.
Take a look at the top ten (10) Nigerian startups at this year’s event:
Powerstove
Anya, is a low-power, GSM enabled, fully integrated IoT device customized for installation in clean cookstoves. Anya is integrated with Blockchain, innovative sensing, and user-centric climate financing that allows Powerstove to track, quantify, and monetize carbon emissions.
Schoola
Schoola is a gamified AI learning solution that is curriculum agnostic and powered by local content generated by the individual K12 schools.
Vinsighte
Vinsighte uses computer vision to enable anyone with visual impairment to navigate their environment independently.
TraceRoot
Traceroot is a face recognition company, helping law enforcement solve crimes. Traceroot Watch ensures accurate face detection and recognition, even when people are moving. It offers faster, automated identification user-friendly.
Chekkit
Chekkit runs a COVID-19 USSD help service for AfricanCDC and Africa union using a shortcode to provide data and other contacts information of people requisition COVID-19 test to NCDC.
The startup leverage Africastaling’s infrastructure for USSD service but it comes as a post-paid with MTN which is free for users and pre-paid to other networks at N5-20 cost deducted from users airtime.
VNTS
VNTS NetPremise Data Traffic Extender (DTE) device, is an AI-integrated LTE/5G router device with the ability to improve signal throughput and transmit it into and around a building using in-premise electrical cabling.
Easily allowing our devices to become the backbone superhighway, thoroughly and securely funneling all that data from the networks to those devices, ensuring the widest coverage, fast throughputs and great quality of service.
Lexchain
LexChain is a Blockchain-based Startup for data (document) verification and decentralized storage that leverages and solves the problems of the health, education, and Land GIS sector.
One Kiosk
One Kiosk prides itself as an Instacart for Africa, using a marketplace approach to aggregate local and medium scale retailers across various communities leveraging on Geolocation and Machine learning to connect customers with sellers based on their location and preference thus achieving an efficient delivery cycle of one hour to their users for the direct shopping while its open market list service achieves same-day delivery.
EduOS
EduOS is an Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language processing powered writing and research aid tool that acts as a sort of personal assistant that helps you by searching for relevant materials related to what you are writing about.
Blieu Intelligence
A new valve lock System deployed with remote cloud-based correspondence Intelligence and OTP, to monitor the operation of sensitive process valves remotely, thus check-mating the problem of petroleum products syphoning from storage tanks or theft of high-value process chemicals or any relevant liquid, unauthorized operation of sensitive valves or discharge terminal valves.
NITDA boss Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi said Nigeria’s participation is basically to promote the energetic entrepreneurial spirit of the youth populace as they continually push for a digitized economy.
Speaking further, he said Nigeria targets early recovery from the pandemic and sees strong economic healing through the tech innovations of its youths even as it explores the digital economy space to seek global collaboration which will re-energize and re-engineer the national economy.
“Nations are increasingly navigating the pandemic to keep their economy growing, and avoid complete stagnation,” he added.
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