Not so long ago, we told you about Microsoft’s partnership with Strathmore University to open the first Policy Innovation Centre in Africa. Since then, Microsoft has been hit some milestones and the first one was the partnership with research company, Dalberg, last week to launch a Digital Transformation Series. The main aim of the series is to engage policy makers, leaders, technologists and entrepreneurs through a series of conversations that will help decipher misconceptions and questions that exist around technology policy.
According to Microsoft, the Policy Innovation Centre comes at the right time as we see increased access to technology and more individuals are able to do what only governments were able to do in the past. Given that the Policy Innovation Centre brings together the private and public sectors, we will be able to think about the next generation of policies that should be implemented. With this, we will not only enable innovation to flourish but we will also be able to accelerate digital transformation.
With innovation happening more frequently, we may find ourselves with no policies that help support innovation or even worse, we end up with archaic policies that prevent us from moving forward according to Christopher Akiwumi, Director for Government and Regulatory Affairs for Microsoft Middle East and Africa.
The Digital Transformation series will run over the course of next year,2018. It will help curate conversations that aim to understand where policy is able to play a role in supporting and accelerating digital innovations that drive inclusive growth for the continent. It will cover a wide range of topics that driver economic and social growth from the financial sector, healthcare, government and oil and gas. With all the innovations happening in all these sectors, there is a need to have people governments, countries and organizations think about the right policy environment to be put in place.
The right policy environment will help shape innovation in the continent and help in the achieving of the sustainable development goals. For example, in the health sector, the centre can involve all the private sector and government to find ways to address new innovative policies and finding ways and guiding principals to do it responsibly.
Microsoft has also been clear that the Policy Innovation Centre will bring other digital players and its not just a Microsoft affair. In an interview with CNBC, Mr. Akiwumi said that Microsoft hopes that the other digital players will bring their expertise, learnings and be able to share their experiences. Through this, there will be consensus on the guiding principals when looking at innovative policy.
Over the years, Microsoft’s policy has been to empower every individual or organization on the planet to achieve more and this will be the same with the Policy Innovation Centre. The company says that the centre will be inclusive so that no one is left behind when it comes to the policies.
“The outcomes of topics covered in the series will only compliment what Microsoft has already done in each sector up for discussion. We have a number of solutions that have been subject to great success within each sector.
“For example, within the healthcare sector, Microsoft has introduced care-coordination solutions that enable medical practitioners to communicate with patients, manage and connect to health care providers, and monitor patient progress more effectively. On the financial front, our Multichannel Customer Experience Management solution enables customer experience optimisation by transforming their bank’s omni-channel strategy,” said Amr Kamel, General Manager, West, East, Central Africa & Indian Ocean Islands, Microsoft.