Our communities of practice are made up of individuals who are passionate about a certain topic and willing to share knowledge and exchange ideas with each other. Despite being unable to hold meet-ups for the past couple of months due to Covid-19, the groups remain active with information and opportunities; some even holding online meet-ups every now and then.
Communities of Practice as Core of the Tech-Ecosystem
As Hellen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” At the core of our Communities of Practice is the inspiration we get from this quote. Our CoPs started in 2019 in collaboration with National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA) and other private institutions such as Rwanda Blockchain Association and Dope Apps among others. Some of these were already in place and our major role as the DigiCenter was to support in providing more structure and consistency.
The purpose of the CoP is to promote knowledge sharing and spark innovation amongst people working in the same field. Through these communities, people who share a common interest are able to not only share what they already know with each other but also come up with new solutions and innovations individually or as a team. In addition to that, these communities provide a space and opportunity for networking which allows them to develop personal relationships which may benefit them in other aspects of their lives.
Furthermore, CoPs enable dialogue between not only like-minded but also diverse people, to explore new possibilities and facilitate innovative outcomes. The Communities of Practice also facilitate self-reflection, strengthen understanding of the practice and in doing so, build further professional competencies and therefore benefitting the ecosystem. It is important for the Digicenter to focus on creating value for the CoP members just as the CoPs create value for the Digicenter and the tech ecosystem in general. This can be done through sharing the communities’ success stories, providing them with the resources to meet, promoting personal development of members and marketability for the solutions and strategies developed.
Communities of Practice at the Digital Transformation Center
The DigiCenter currently has four existing CoPs which include Blockchain, Internet of Things, AR/VR and Artificial Intelligence. Prior to COVID-19 and its effects, these communities used to meet at least once a month at the DigiCenter, with some of them meeting twice. During these meet-ups, the CoPs host expert talks, hold panel events, showcase individual projects and network amongst members. The members of these CoPs now stay in touch through the active whatsapp groups and online meet-ups where ideas and projects are shared.
Beginning 2021, we intend to start 5 other communities of practice which will comprise of Big data and analytics, Robotics, cyber security, gaming solutions and smart cities. These communities will bring together stakeholders from both public and private institutions and encourage Rwandans who are interested in the above topics to innovate solutions to the existing problems.
Join our Communities of Practice
You are passionate about AI, blockchain or Smart Cities? Then become a member of our Communities of Practice.
Your topic of expertise is not mentioned here? Reach out to us to discuss further opportunities.
