Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will on September 1, 2020 make a public declaration on the three winners if its Nine Million Naira (N9m) research grants for startups with the most promising ideas to use digital solution in the combat of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Commission selected the three yet to be announced startups from an entry of 282 in its COVID-19 Virtual Hackathon from digital innovation Startups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
All 282 entries were evaluated by a committee set up by the Commission, with the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Umar Danbatta, already extending invitations to operators and other industry stakeholders to participate virtually in the Grant/Prize Award ceremony.
The physical venue for the ceremony is expected to be the Conference Room of the Commission at 11:00 am prompt on Tuesday September 1, 2020.
According to the Commission, the health and economic crisis triggered by the novel COVID-19 Pandemic had challenged the global ICT community to search for digital solutions to address and contain the spread of the virus.
Such solutions would allow citizens and businesses to rein in the virus and continue their activities with limited disruptions.
NCC instituted a programme to award research grants to support Startups and Digital SME’s with adaptable innovative digital solutions that could address present and future impacts of pandemic and epidemic-prone diseases in Nigeria.
Under the programme, the Commission will award N9 million research grants to three Nigerian startups with the most innovative digital solutions for containing pandemics and epidemics in the country in the thematic areas of health, community, productivity, economy and transportation. The highlights of the ceremony include pitching/demonstration of the top three solutions by the startups, announcement of the winners and presentation of research prizes.
