and infrastructure will provide an enabling environment for businesses to raise capital, list on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and attract foreign direct investment. The policy will also encourage both local and international businesses to be domiciled in Kenya, and get high returns. This will in turn attract and retain global talent in Kenya. The Government will leverage our skills and innovations to grow our businesses and provide a strong intellectual property infrastructure to ensure innovations are protected. It will enable a 24hr economy, enforce the use of the National Public Key Infrastructure and ensure all safety nets are in place to protect our money and investments. 4.3 Skills and Innovation This policy outlines a careful plan designed to jump-start a self-supporting ecosystem that will produce world-class research, technology products and industries. The technology environment is changing fast and Kenya needs to not just keep up but to lead the charge. In order to ensure that we are always on the right track, every two years we will reassess research and development priorities and set five new technology goals. The government will fund investment in the selected new technologies, encourage the private sector to focus on the identified research and investment priority areas and help create skills in those technologies by funding scholarships, grants, challenges and innovation awards. Our people need gainful work, by ensuring incentive and educational alignment with global market requirements; Kenyans will be in demand both locally and internationally for technical work. We want to be leaders and innovators in the fourth industrial revolution and so we want to attract and create the best educational institutions in the world. We will continue to encourage partnerships such as the International Space Program in Malindi and ensure that our curriculum takes into account the gig economy, generating a skilled workforce that is attractive globally. By 2020, there will be over 5 billion connected people worldwide; the average internet user will be from the emerging markets and we want to connect with them on all digital platforms. Our unique culture and languages put our Country in a strategic position to innovate for the emerging markets, forming partnerships and strategies that guide our training and skills generation. The Government will support and enable the development of a robust technology entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country Ministry of ICT, Kenya through an ICT Co-Fund that will unlock requisite capital, avail easy access to critical technical assistance and actively promote the adoption and utilisation of local innovations. Public long-term funds will be incentivised to set aside 5% of their investments for the local ICT ecosystem. The Government will work to encourage early Initial Public Offerings in the Growth Enterprise Market Segment of the Capital Market (GEMS) and support the growth of Permanent Listed Vehicles that build bridges between investors and the businesses that need investment to grow. Government ICT procurement, including security and defence, will prioritise award of tenders to new and innovative local businesses to permit greater participation by emerging enterprises and preferentially adopt home grown solutions. Kenyan built solutions will be preferred over any other solution; where there are no local businesses that meet the tender requirements, skills transfer to local firms and personnel will be a mandatory requirement. 4.4 Public Service Delivery It is our policy that all government services must be available online, that every Kenyan has online access and that government services are delivered quickly and fully at the time and place that they are needed. This ICT policy requires all arms of government to build, deploy, operate and manage locally built back-end and front end systems to deliver services. This policy also requires that Kenyan data remains in Kenya, and that it is stored safely and in a manner that protects the privacy of citizens to the utmost. Government services will be delivered in a manner that ensures we have a prosperous, free, open and stable society. This policy aims to promote the collaboration of the National and County governments to ensure that all services, both physical and digital reach every citizen at a guaranteed high level of quality. The ICT policy requires that:  Service charters be published by the public sector and citizens sensitised about them.  Government services be easily accessible to all citizens using their mobile devices anywhere and anytime.  All procurement and tender processes be electronically published and open to all. 8/37 November-2019