Mobile Innovation hubs

Innovation requires insight into customer needs. Our African Innovation Center will help chart the markets of the future.

The rationale for the 2008 launch of Ericsson’s Mobile Innovation Center is simple. By working closely with local stakeholders, our teams of developers can design innovative solutions for the communication needs of sub-Saharan Africa.

The initiative is based around three hubs in Nairobi, Kenya, Lagos in Nigeria, and Johannesburg, South Africa. While the primary focus is to benefit this low-income region, we are already seeing enormous global potential and scalability of some innovations.

Among the first applications is the Mobile Survey Tool (MST). MST was inspired by our involvement in the Millennium Villages and by the need of partner agencies to collect reliable data about healthcare, education, agriculture, government and business development.

The application allows organizations to create and use surveys, process the data and publish the results. Since the sub-Saharan region has inconsistent mobile coverage, the tool is designed to adapt to areas of low or uneven coverage. Already it shows great potential. Health agencies can quickly track disease outbreaks, individuals in remote areas can perform self-diagnosis, local authorities can support voting services, and businesses conduct market surveys.

Another innovation deployed in 2008 is Dynamic Discounting, which makes connectivity more affordable by providing information about call rate discounts. Because discounts are typically offered at times of low network usage, the local operator sees the benefit of increased network traffic and efficiencies. Dynamic Discounting provides value for the vendor, local operator and end-consumer, who can receive call discounts of up to 95 percent by calling during low traffic periods.

Other applications to be rolled out in 2009 include the Mobile Virtual Number and the Mobile Banking applications. In sub-Saharan Africa, mobile penetration is approximately 35 percent. The Mobile Virtual Number will allow users to establish an account and use any mobile communication device to make calls, send and receive messages or access the Internet.

The Mobile Banking application opens up the possibility of financial services to the majority of sub-Saharan Africans currently without a bank account. Users can establish an account and complete transactions via a mobile phone or the Internet.

One of the obstacles identified prior to the Innovation Center’s launch was a lack of technological skills in the sub-Saharan region. Ericsson’s hubs are designed to address this challenge. Our small, flexible teams support local businesses with new technologies, while improving their skill base. We partner with stakeholders to develop insight into local needs and advance the regional economy.