Negotiations on ICT innovation centre at SmartCity ‘at final stages’

MITA, government's IT agency, is at the final negotiation stages with SmartCity Malta for the setting up of an ICT innovation centre at SmartCity Malta.

Parliamentary Secretary for investment Edward Zammit Lewis said the centre would act as a hub to synergise the effort of various parties aimed towards ICT-themed R&D, idea-generation, incubation and open-innovation.  

"These will be stimulated through policies directed to support the specialisation areas identified in the National Research and Innovation Strategy 2020," he said.

According to the junior minister, through the new Digital Strategy being spearheaded by MITA and MCA, the Government would be supporting local ICT players to increase their participation in pan-European and international research and investment funding frameworks. 

Zammit Lewis was speaking during the launch of a new handbook for teachers,  'Fostering Entrepreneurship Through Education'.  

The book was developed by  St Nicholas College in collaboration with The Edward de Bono Institute within the University of Malta. The book, a first of its kind for Malta, focuses  on entrepreneurship education across the curriculum and is in line with the principles of the National Curriculum Framework. 

Zammit Lewis said the government supported start-ups for the creation of Economic Growth and the creation of new quality jobs. 

"We have to support entrepreneurship and innovation through a holistic approach. Many youths, after completing their tertiary education, face poor communication skills, very limited or no work experience and have a limited idea of entrepreneurship," he said.

"We have the thinking tools available and this initiative will help educators plant an entrepreneurship seed into our children, which will foster into innovative initiatives."   

The handbook was the result of an award winning project in the National Enterprise Support Award (NESA), in which St Nicholas College came second in Malta for its quality of entrepreneurship projects. 

Zammit Lewis congratulated the College and the Edward de Bono Institute for their hard work. 

"The Government through its Technology Agency MITA, is taking various initiatives to support innovation and ICT entrepreneurship," he said.