A new business centre for climate innovations targeting Kenyan innovators, entrepreneurs and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises ( SMEs) has been launched in the country.

The Kenya Climate Innovation Center (CIC), being funded by the United Kingdom’s UKaid and the Danish

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is offering various services to a growing network of climate innovators.

CICs aim to build capacity for locally relevant climate technologies by understanding innovation gaps for these technologies in the context of national resources, capabilities and institutions.

“The centre supports activities that address the gaps between the technology and how it will be used, whether they are technological, financial, policy based or informational, in a systematic and coordinated fashion, thereby leveraging a broader notion of ‘ innovation cooperation,” said Edward Mungai, Chief Executive, CIC.

 He said it is important that the activities of the CIC are coordinated with national perspectives on climate action, as well as developmental needs.

“The initial three areas of the Kenyan CIC, for example, are agribusiness, renewable energy and water management,” he disclosed.

 Mungai beleives that building local capacity is important since it helps in enhancing the effectiveness of efforts to deploy technology.  This, he says, is due to a better understanding of local social, economic, business and policy conditions.