By Michael Kanaabi Dollar
Over 217 tech enthusiasts including government bureaucrats, Entrepreneurs, lawyers, bankers, insurers, technology students and developers converged at the National ICT Innovation hub located in the Nakawa based Institute of ICT to deliberate on some of the most pressing and emerging issues around trending technological innovations like Artificial Intelligence, Web 3 and Block chain recently.
Brought together under the auspices of Blockchain 360 an association of stakeholders in the tech industry locally and regionally, various sector players had the chance to listen to some of the leading minds In technology, law, finance and related sector’s giving attendees a chance to understand how all the above are interlinked when it comes to creating life changing innovations.
David Lumala a renowned Developer and emerging technology enthusiast who also doubles as the group’s coordinator says “Block chain 360 was a result of previous activities done by developers and innovators in the sector the biggest having been the developers festival in July 2022. On realizing most people in the sector would go back to doing other things separately after these events, it was suggested Block Chain 360 be created with quarterly events the recent one being the first to crytalise the ecosystem around block chain and other tech innovations and build momentum with in the community as people consult with in and work together on various projects through regular engagements.”
Among other goals, Block Chain 360 aims to clear all the misconceptions around Block chain, Web 3 and other emerging technologies plus educating those interested on how to innovate with and benefit from these technologies.
With a lot scams going around in the guise of tech innovations, Block Chain 360 is also endeavoring to debunk these quack projects and protect those with in the eco system from losing money to them through regular engagements like the recently concluded one Lumala suggests.
Having planned for 150 attendees only to receive 217 shows the momentum growing around Block chain technology as a whole. Lumala says “ We had 7 attendees from Rwanda, 2 from Burundi, 2 from South Sudan and another one from DRC showing our reach has gone regional.”
This means besides the work we do locally with in Uganda around Block chain and Web 3, we need to look at going regional and even beyond as the community and interest is growing fast beyond Uganda’s borders he adds.
Some of the partners who helped put this event together include the Graph protocol, Capital Savvy, Bunch DAO, Binusu Exchange, Aurora Africa, National ICT Hub, Pentagon Advocates, Adafro labs, Arudem Gaming to mention but a few.
Advice to Innovators and Tech Enthusiasts
Louis Kizito a partner at City law firm Pentagon Advocates and also a practitioner in the legal tech and innovation space advised innovators at the event not to worry about regulation but focus on building their products and innovations up to a level where they need to deal with regulators.
“Do not let possible legal challenges and regulators impede you from creating your products and innovations, focus on growing what you have started until a time when you need to face and deal with regulators” he said.
Kizito added that it is however important for innovators to be in touch with and regularly engage other critical players like legal practitioners, venture capitalists to mention but a few that are key when it comes to scaling their innovations and turning their dreams into reality.
David Lumala the Block Chain 360 coordinator advised innovators and tech enthusiasts at the event to change with the world and embrace Web 3, Artificial Intelligence and Block Chain technology to the fullest because it is going to affect every aspect of our society from agriculture to sports, finance, entertainment, education and other spheres.
“Get to know where the world is going and get there first by innovating around the future and utilising the expertise of members with in the ecosystem and community we are building around Block chain 360.”
Many of the connections you may need to get ahead are with in the network so take advantage of them as we look forward to expanding the tech innovations space locally and regionally to achieve greater goals and revolutionary inventions, he concluded.
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Email: michaelkanaabi@gmail.com
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