Eric Schmidt at the iHub

iHub By Editor / January 15, 2013

Eric Schmidt at the iHub

iHub earlier today hosted Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google .

Eric Schmidt, Google Executive Chairman with Erik Hersman at Pete’s Coffee, iHub.

Eric toured the iHub ,hung out with techies, met techpreneurs from the iHub, and visited some of the startups here, including KopoKopo and SafariDesk .

Eric Schmidt with Dylan Higgins of Kopo Kopo.

The journey with Google and iHub over the last 2 years

Google has been one of iHub’s major partners, collaborating in projects, working with the tech community and funding the expansion of the iHub space, and the build out of the UX Lab and the iHub Cluster.

Google and iHub have grown together with the community over the last two years learning from each other through events such as Ladies Mapping parties, Trainings on Google Earth, Fireside Chats with Marissa Mayer, Office Hours with Bob Aman andHackathons . These sessions have strengthened our collaboration and through them we identified areas to work together and strengthen the iHub community further.

In early 2012, iHub announced funding from Google to support the iHub community.

The funds were to:

Expand our infrastructure (network and server technology) to provide the tech community with a “sandbox” to host and test their applications

Eric Schmidt at the iHub with Erik Hersman and Jessica Colaco at the expanded space , on 2nd floor, which now houses iHub Research , iHub Consult and the Savannah Accelerator

Set up a UX testing lab to provide training on design thinking and carry out UX research in the tech world. The UX Lab is led by UX Designer Mark Kamau and UX expert and Researcher, Kagonya Awori.

Eric Schmidt with Mark Kamau, the UX Lab Lead at the UX Lab on 1st Floor

Setup the “ExchangeBoard Project” to support high-quality G+ hangouts and display the latest newsfeeds within the tech community. The team is made up of Lillian Nduati, Sam Wakoba and Joseph Maathai.

Eric Schmidt at iHub UX Lab during a hangout

At the iHub UX Lab during a Google hangout between iLab_Africa (Strathmore) and iHub

Set up an experimental super-computer cluster environment to host data intensive applications which require high performance computing.

Eric Schmidt at the iHub Cluster with Phares Kariuki, iHub Cluster Lead

Part of the funds from Google went into setting up the iHub Cluster . The supercomputer is dubbed ISIOLO – [Immanently SuperCharged Infinitely Omnipotent Limitless Operationator) , and is touted as one of the region’s most powerful computing cluster. The team is made up of Phares Kariuki , Idd Salim and Jimmy Gitonga.

Go to our G+ Page for more photos.

Author : Editor

Editor's Picks from Guest bloggers and contributor's from the tech community. We're always on the look out for contributors on ICT and tech for the region. Find out how you can write for us here: http://www.ihub.co.ke/blog/2012/10/write-for-ihub/

4 Comments

jke at 19:44:08PM Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Having followed the birth of the iHub from an idea between Erik and David to this point I am just in awe at how efficient good collaboration can be. Certainly a great milestone for the iHub and well deserved!

Reply
iHub at 10:00:09AM Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Thank you. The iHub has indeed come far, thanks to the support of our community, partners and dedicated team.

Reply
Google's Eric Schmidt on his views of Technology in Africa at 17:23:13PM Tuesday, January 22, 2013

[...] Photo Credit: iHub Blog [...]

Reply
Mark at 00:32:50AM Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Inspired by what’s happened so far — Excited by all the fun, learning & disruption to come.

Congrats to Erik and his team on making Nairobi Africa’s rising Tech Hub.

Reply

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