Earlier this week, Autodesk Foundation paid a courtesy call to Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC) to interact with some of the enterprises that the organization supports. The half day visit brought together seven companies from the different sectors.
Led by the Executive Director Joe Speicher and Kate Evans, who manages the sustainable design education program, they were given a tour of the facilitity and were able to meet the KCIC team and understand the operations of the organization.
They had an interactive session with some of the entrepreneurs, where their innovative concepts were showcased. The enterprises included Kings Biofuels Limited which is in briquette manufacturing, Full Spoon Limited which processes peanut butter, clean cooking stoves by Wisdom Innovations were also at the mini exhibition. Strauss Energy and Kitui Industries also represented the renewable energy sector while Hydroponics Africa and Ukulima Tech showcased their innovation on soiless farming.
The autodesk foundation supports the design and creation of innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. They do so by providing grant funding, software, technical training, and industry expertise to grantees in architecture, engineering, product design and manufacturing, visual effects, gaming, and related fields that are creating solutions to environmental and social challenges.
Autodesk foundation offers support to non-profit organizations, social and environmental entrepreneurs, academic programs, early-stage ventures and projects, industry and research partners.
KCIC is exploring a partnership with Autodesk Foundation in order for the entreprenuers to benefit from the design software which will ease their work especially on product design among other services.
Speaking during the visit, Mr. Spiecher noted, “I am very pleased with the kind of innovations that I have seen here today. Supporting innovations that are keen on tackling some of the environment challenges that we experience will go a long way in improving the quality of life of many worldwide.”
By Michelle Mung’ata
