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MWC: Ericsson plans innovation hub in Africa this year

Paula Gilbert
By Paula Gilbert, ITWeb telecoms editor.
Barcelona, 01 Mar 2018
Ericsson will bring its successful Ericsson Garage innovation hub concept to Africa.
Ericsson will bring its successful Ericsson Garage innovation hub concept to Africa.

Ericsson will this year launch two or three innovation hubs, or what it calls the Ericsson Garage, in the Middle East and Africa.

This is according to Rafiah Ibrahim, head of Ericsson Middle East and Africa (MEA), speaking at a press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Headquartered in Kista, Sweden, Ericsson Garage exists in multiple locations around the world, but not in Africa so far. Ibrahim believes the MEA region needs the type of innovation the Ericsson Garage brings and says at least one, if not more, could be on the African continent.

"This is where we encourage collaboration as an ecosystem, where we will work with an operator or two operators. We will have start-up companies which we will invite to test out their applications. We will want university students to test out what they think they can do. This will launch this year. We could start with a few countries, maybe two or three, but I can't say where just yet, but it needs to be the countries where it will be most relevant," Ibrahim told ITWeb.

The garage is an open innovation platform, inspired by lean start-up methodology. The idea is to build innovative partnerships with customers and academia, support start-ups and accelerate ideas for Ericsson employees.

"As a corporate incubator, Ericsson Garage provides a platform and a much-needed space for the innovation community. This open model ensures maximum cross-pollination of new thinking, plus provides an inspirational opportunity for anyone in the company to bring about real, fast-paced, innovative change," the group's Web site explains.

Ibrahim wouldn't say which cities or countries are most favoured for the garage concept but said there is scope for a couple in Africa as long as partners get on board.

"We need to also look at who the players are in Africa who wish to invest in it. We provide the methodology, the way that we have been successful in setting up the Ericsson Garages in the past. So if we can find partners, who are operators and there are several of them who wish to get involved, and to include start-up companies and some of their own academies, that will be the place that will be relevant for us to start these innovation hubs.

"Many of the locals in each of those countries are very brilliant people who can do a simple application rather than for us to bring it from somewhere else, and in the language they want. So I think we will need to do a couple of hubs, but we will need to phase it out because we need to be able to manage it as well because for us it's trying to encourage this collaboration," she added.

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