Ethiopia has a new tech hub and business incubator in ice ethiopia (lower-case intended). ice, an acronym for “Innovation Collaboration Entrepreneurship”, is built upon the principles of African tech spots like Kenya’s iHub, Senegal’s Bantalabs, Botswana’s Wennovation Hub, and Uganda’s Hive Colab. All share the desire for fast technology adaption and a local technology support environment.

it is time to make the next step and start thinking about viable solutions for ICTs in the private sector – it is time for iHub Ethiopia” – @thinkethiopia, December 7, 2010

Sharp logo, with three arrows {ice-ethiopia.org}

At its core ice stands for inspiration. More specifically, ice describes itself as:

…a self-sufficient technology innovation & business incubation center aiming at supporting Ethiopia’s economic growth by tightening the constructive interaction between researchers, developers, entrepreneurs, creative workers and by promoting local technological solutions to the public.

The ultimate goal of the program is to have a sustainable network of ice centers located around Ethiopia. Currently, it appears that the sole operational center is in Addis.

The hub has only been active for two months and it will be exciting to monitor how quickly ice can encourage technology adoption. For reference, after just one-year, iHub has over 3,000 members, has hosted over 70 events in the past year, and has contributed to the creation of 12 companies. Will ice produce similar results in 2011? Perhaps: the hub has already hosted the “Innovation Through ICT and Leadership” at Addis Ababa Institute of Technology and has another event planned for March 28th.

The coming year proves to be an exciting one in Ethiopia, especially with the anticipated arrival of Ethiopia’s first ICT park in early 2012. Hopefully these two endeavors can coordinate when the time comes.

Finally, be sure to follow @ice_ethiopia on Twitter and/or drop them a line at ict [dot] ethiopia [at] gmail.com.