By Ibrahim Olukotun
Liyel Imoke, the Governor of Cross River State (wearing blue dress and black cap) being conducted round some of the facilities in Tinapa Knowledge Centre (TCK) following the commissioning on Tuesday in Calabar, Cross River State Photo: Technology Times
Lagos. Friday November 2, 2012: Odo Effiong, Special Adviser on ICT to Cross River Governor, has highlighted the facilities and incentives which will welcome software developers and ICT entrepreneurs to Tinapa Knowledge City in Calabar envisioned by the state to become a technology innovation hub.
The new project commissioned last week by the Liyel Imoke, the Governor of Cross River State is also intended to house one of the two digital incubation centres the Ministry of Communication Technology plans to establish in the country year end.
Speaking at this year’s National Software Conference and Competition in Tinapa Resort in Calabar, Effiong says, “Tinapa Knowledge City will power the connection between technology, people and enterprises that seek their services.”
According to the ICT Adviser, Tinapa Knowledge City, “promises a bright tomorrow for the youth and entrepreneurs. It is the link between innovation and the needs of the market; it is the answer to the challenge of an emerging market. TKC will take the game to a whole new level creating a knowledge and innovation hub for Nigeria, West Africa, Central Africa and the larger African markets.”
He said the location will be ideal for innovation as TKC will have a serene, safe and tech-conducive environment, uninterrupted electric power supply which is excellent for sensitive equipment, resources for empirical research and development in technology and ancillary fields and digital networks for connecting with other technology industry operators and markets.
Cross River State says the technology hub is designed to provide the acceleration for Nigeria’s entry into digital space with the siting of a Digital Library/Software Development Centre (SDC).
TKC is a digital resource repository to provide key access to hot data for users within and outside the community. With strategic support from the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), the SDC will play host to the Software Engineering Institute, Entrepreneurship Development Centre, Software Innovation and Incubation Centre, adds Effiong
The Ministry of Communication Technology had earlier said that trainees at the Incubation Centre will be provided with facilities, free software development tools, mentoring, business and technical training and business advisory services.
Other facilities at Tinapa Knowledge City are Network Operating/Data Centre which will have a huge capacity to handle important backup/offshore cloud servers for both industries and governments.
The Data Centre will be a location for private and local clouds offering web hosting and business continuity services. It will also offer relief for the local developers’ community by providing sandboxes for products’ upload and testing, he adds.
Under the plan, the TKC will have space and infrastructure for storage and computing resources dedicated to research. The all-purpose centre will include a resource library, up to 8 to 12 participants, two large training rooms for training up to 50 trainees and two small training rooms for break sessions for a capacity up to 20 participants.
It provides logistic administrative support and comfortable residential and guest accommodation, he adds.
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