The Nigeria Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) will host the Nigeria edition of Actinspace, an international competition for students of tertiary institutions, IT startups and entrepreneurs to create new applications using technologies, satellite data and/or licenses. A statement signed by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs of NIGCOMSAT, Adamu Idris said the competition will be co-hosted with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, African Aeronautics & Space Organization (AASO), CNES (the National Centre for Space Studies-France), European Space Agency (ESA), and Airbus.
“Applicants from the ages of 18 to 35 years are expected to come up with solutions that are space-related for submission for the contest. The contest categories are new space player, everyday life, business and space for earth and humans,” he said. The chairperson for the local organizing committee for Actinspace Nigeria, Mrs Alma Okpalefe, said participants are expected to devise solutions that could help to run their businesses, support humanitarian causes and develop applications based on space technology.
She stated that the second phase of the competition will be the hackathon “where selected applicants will present their business ideas to judges and mentors over a two-day period. “We are expecting to see Nigeria win at the global technology innovation challenge. To achieve that however, we must showcase the best of what we have to offer,” she said. The finalists and runners up will emerge at the end of the hackathon while the first place winner will represent the country in Paris in 2021. “Entries are accepted only through the NIGCOMSAT official website www.nigcomsat.gov.ng and will end on October 8, 2020”, Idris said.
