Philips to establish African innovation hub

23 April 2014 News

Royal Philips announced plans to establish an innovation centre in Kenya to work on the creation and bringing to market of new inventions.

The Philips Africa Innovation Hub will conduct application-focused scientific and user studies to address key challenges like improving access to lighting and affordable healthcare as well as developing innovations to meet the aspirational needs of the rising middle class in Africa.

The centre will be located at Philips’ East African headquarters in Nairobi, where African talent and international researchers will operate on the concept of ‘open innovation’ and will work in close collaboration with the R&D ecosystem of Kenya and Africa. Philips is in discussions with local organisations and universities on R&D collaborations to co-create meaningful solutions for Africa.

In addition to new projects, the Philips Africa Innovation Hub will adopt some innovations that Philips has already been working on. These include a respiratory rate monitor to support pneumonia diagnosis, a workflow innovation designed to reduce the number of avoidable maternal and child deaths, a smokeless cooking stove, and consumer solar solutions.

While headquartered in Kenya, the hub will be responsible for Pan-African research and projects and will have operations across Africa. It will be headed by Dr. Maarten van Herpen and will work in close collaboration with the Philips research labs in Bangalore, Shanghai and Eindhoven.

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