Paula Ingabire, minister of Information and communications technology and Innovation, Rwanda.

Rwanda marked a new milestone in technology growth yesterday with the ground-breaking ceremony of Kigali Innovation City (KIC), a $300 million project that is expected to become one of Africa's top innovation hubs.

KIC is planned to act as an African technology, research, and innovation hub, creating over 50,000 jobs and generating $150 million in technology exports within the next two years.

The ambitious KIC project is supported by Africa50 and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa.

KIC, called Rwanda's Silicon Valley, is the brainchild of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a government institution that brings together all state organisations responsible for attracting, retaining, and facilitating investment in the national economy.

“It is going to be a new dawn in innovation and economic development of our nation and the continent,” said Francis Gatare, RDB executive director and CEO.

Paula Ingabire, minister of information and communications technology and Innovation, said KIC was poised to drive Africa’s digital transformation.

She said: "Over the past 5 years we've had top universities join the KIC ecosystem, the first being Carnegie Mellon University Africa. Beyond the physical space, the KIC's focus is also on streamlining the infrastructure, policy and regulatory environment, talent, and financing needed to create a thriving ecosystem and scale the innovations that will be born here".