Ericsson plans innovation hubs to serve African markets

Swedish based networking and telecommunications, Ericsson, has announced that it plans to create a series of new innovation hubs serving Middle East and Africa markets following the same global concept of Ericsson Garage.

Ericsson Garage is an open innovation platform, inspired by lean startup methodology. Ericsson Garage teams work with short development cycles in close dialog with customers, users and partners, learning and pivoting fast with each new iteration of a minimum viable product to ensure the final version fulfills actual customer needs and pain points.

Rafiah Ibrahim, Head of Ericsson Middle East and Africa, says: ”As a corporate incubator, Ericsson Garage provides a platform for the innovation community as it builds innovation partnerships with customers and academia, supports startups and accelerates the development of new business ideas. Today, I am proud to see such a great model coming to the Middle East and Africa for the first time. This open model will ensure maximum cross-pollination of new thinking and provide an inspirational opportunity for local talents to innovate and bring about real, fast-paced and creative innovations that will serve the needs of our customers.”

The Ericsson Garage concept started in Kista, Sweden and have since been created in several affiliates across the globe in different locations including Budapest, Aachen, Paris, Silicon Valley, Gothenburg, Croatia, Montreal, Ottawa, Lund, Linkoping, Poland and Beijing.