Rinchi
TechInAfrica – The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) entered an agreement with the Kenyan Government for the launching and establishment of an institution called Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). According to the agreement, it will be built in Konza city, 70km from Nairobi.
Both parties signed the deal that took place at Konza and discussed it further at the University of Nairobi (UoN) recently. Furthermore, the establishment of KAIST estimated to cost KES 10 billion.
KAIST is expected to be ready by 2022 and will admit 330 students for Phase 1. The construction is already running and will be taken over by two Korean engineering and architecture companies, Samwoo and Sunjin.
For the record, the contract for the construction project was signed in November 2018 and the recent event driven by the same project.
The project is a part of Vision 2030 that aims at transforming Kenya into a middle-income economy that benefited from the use of technology, science, and innovation. Moreover, it intends to drive national economic growth by underlining the importance of research and development. It is also expectedly able to tackle challenges in research and development using engineering and advanced science works.
KAIST will implement some engineering disciplines and six departments in Phase 1, including Agricultural Biotechnology, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, ICT Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.
Reuben Mutiso, Chairman of Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA), explained: “The adoption of the Korea-KAIST model is deliberate. We want to build a nurturing environment for graduate students not only in Kenya but also in East Africa, that will see an innovative growth, rallied by science, in the region. A highly-educated nation is paramount to its economic, social and political success, it is, therefore, our hope that this new venture will be embraced by the people of Kenya.”
