Anambra partners US firms on tech, economic innovations

The Anambra State Government said it is collaborating with a host of United States high-tech companies to explore areas of possible strategic partnerships, corporate alliances, technology collaboration, and innovation.

Izuchukwu Adichie, the Senior Special Assistant, New Media, to the Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, stated this in a press statement on Sunday, adding that the state government team met with the tech giants in Lagos on Friday.

Adichie added that the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has the vision to transform Anambra into the digital and creative capital of Nigeria, develop the Silicon Valley of Africa-Solution Innovation District, and introduce the application of technologies everywhere in all aspects of life.

The statement read partly, “The Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, and his team on Friday, held a meeting with the US Consul-General, William Stevens, and leaders of the US high-tech companies in Lagos, at the US Consulate General in Lagos State to explore areas of possible strategic partnerships, corporate alliances, technologies collaboration and innovation.

“The meeting is an opportunity to strengthen strategic partnerships for economic development, shared technologies for shared prosperity between Anambra state, Anambra tech companies, and their United States of America counterparts.

“Anambra State government has the vision to transform the state into the digital and creative capital of Nigeria, develop the Silicon Valley of Africa-Solution Innovation District and introduce the application of technologies everywhere in all aspects of life.

“Anambra State also proposes to interface new technologies platforms with everything and it seeks to highlight the available opportunities as well as promote the incentives from Anambra State towards attracting US firms, especially as Anambra is already ranked as number one by the World Bank Index in the ease of doing business in all of southern Nigeria and number seven in all of Nigeria’s 36 states.

“It is noteworthy that the UNDP and Nigeria Investment Promotion Council have also selected Anambra State as one of the priority states for promotion as the major destination for global investment because of recent sustained economic reforms by the Soludo government.”

Adichie also highlighted the state government’s efforts in the development of high technology capabilities through training a new digital tribe in partnership by deploying the high technologies programmes of the Solution Innovation District.

According to him, the SID has already impacted over 40,000 Ndi Anambra and trained about 25,000 youths to acquire a new variety of technology skills to enable them to be productive at home and exportable overseas.

“Soludo and his team made presentations on the strategic plan of the state for building the innovation hub ecosystem to enable the rise of its proposed smart mega-city project.

“The Anambra State delegation to the US government hosted high technologies partnership meeting that included Commissioner for Industry, Christian Udechukwu; Special Adviser to the Governor on Innovation and Business Incubation, Ms Chinwe Okoli; and Managing Director of Anambra State ICT Agency, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata.

“The US high-tech companies present at the special event include ATC, Shekel Mobility Africa, KPMG, Africa Data Centres, Amazon, Amazon Web Services, VISA, Energy, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Google, META, among others,” the statement added.