Solving Transport Challenges in Rwanda

A growing population, the migration of people from rural to urban areas and thus growing cities pose a great challenge not only to Rwanda. Therefore, intelligent city and mobility concepts are crucial to prepare the country for these new conditions. Read here how the #TechifyMobilityChallenge2020 contributes to the development of smart transport solutions in Rwanda.

The City of Kigali is currently in the 5th year of implementing the Kigali Urban Master Plan. As part of this process, significant improvements to key elements of the urban mobility infrastructure are being planned and executed. Therefore, intelligent city and mobility concepts are crucial to prepare the country for these new conditions. The mandate to ensure that transport services are available throughout Rwanda is held by Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA). In order to support RURA in the field of smart mobility, the DigiCenter organized the Techify Mobility 2020 challenge running from May to September 2020.

Behind the scenes of #TechifyMobility2020

Within the competition, applicants could choose to address one of these four topics with their idea:

Intelligent Public Transport

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Enhancing commuter's experience

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New Mobility: on demand and shared mobility

First mile distribution of goods

As a condition for participating in this competition, the team should consist of 3-4 members. Furthermore, preference was given to teams being gender-balanced, combining different skill sets and having experience in the mobility sector.

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Prototyping & Mentorship

In total, 76 teams applied for this design challenge. Of those 76 teams, 12 teams were selected to further develop their ideas and prototypes during working sessions. In this period, the teams were guided by various mentors from Impact Hub, African Leadership University, Awesomity Lab, Smart Africa Secretariat, Segal Family Foundation and Pascal Technology. Topics of the working sessions included emerging technologies, business modeling, pitch preparation and user interface design.

In the beginning of August, the teams presented their progress in a pitch at the DigiCenter, where four teams got selected for the final round of the challenge. Afterwards, the teams regularly met with the mentors and finetuned their prototypes.

Final Pitches & Winners

On 16th September the final pitch took place at the DigiCenter, where two teams got awarded by the jury (RURA, Impact Hub, Smart Africa Secretariat, GIZ Make IT and GIZ DSSD). Both winners will receive a contract with GIZ to develop their solutions starting in January 2021.

Final pitch of the Techify Mobility 2020 challenge at the DigiCenter

The first winner LelaTech will develop an Intelligent Public Transport System to be used by RURA. Particularly, the system comprises of a fleet management and driver management system. Moreover, by using a machine learning algorithm, it will provide insights and recommendations for different government offices and bus operators.

The second winning team Kttle will develop a journey planning app for public transport passengers. Based on the passenger’s location, it will display the nearest bus stop and calculate the bus route to the desired destination. Additionally, the app will provide a price estimation for the passenger.

The Techify Mobility Challenge 2020 is only one of the many activities we do at the DigiCenter. If you would like to get to know more about our work, have a look at our solutions and events, and follow us on social media.

Solving Transport Challenges in Rwanda – #TechifyMobility2020