The official ceremony of the 3rd edition of the Digital Innovation Week scheduled to hold on March 18th, 2022, is placed under the theme, "Cybersecurity and Digital Innovation: What Challenges for Cameroonian Youths".

Worth noting is the fact that this year's edition wears a double casquette that is: the Government's continuous campaign to promote cybersecurity by placing innovation at the center of activities and the eminent opening of the Cameroon Digital Innovation Centre (C-DIC) whose mission is to detect, support and promote initiatives and innovations in the field of digital entrepreneurship by making available to the project bearer an accessible and flexible working environment with the latest educational didactic and engineenring tools, efficient technical support  services and facilitating the search for fundings. To this effect, the digital innovation week 2021, will respect two major articulations in its activities. Firstly, the National Competition for the best ICT project of the year with the reward of the SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC to the best project and the Digital Challenge, with aim to select startups with projects to be admitted in the INTERNAL INCUBATION OF C-DIC. This was the raison d'être of the press conference held by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Mrs. Minette Libom Li Likeng in the anciliary building of her ministerial department this Friday 17th December 2021 to declare the competitions started. 

According to the Minister, the evolution and role of digital economy in our society in terms of job creation and its impact on the economic growth of the country not leaving out the Head of State's growing interest towards developing the digital economy particularly in favour of the youths was just the idle opportunity for her to multiply initiatives for the follow up and support of youths in the domain of ICT for an emergent digital economy  by creating a favourable ecosystem leading to the creation of digital enterprises. Amongst these initiatives is the organisation of ICT Holiday Camps, the digital globe trotter, institutional support to startups through mentoring, coaching, partnership with international institutions, the one year free broadband internet connection offered to members of the Silicon mountain community in Buea, the realization of studies for the connection of optical fiber for the Silicon mountain Buea and the creation of C-DIC.

Going by the Minister's declaration, the competition on the best ICT projects of the year targets young bearers of ICT projects. They should be of Cameroonian nationality residing within the National Territory main while, the startups for the digital challenge in addition to the criteria of the best ICT project, must be a bearer of an innovative ICT project with a mature concept, a functional and developed prototype at the first stage of market. 

The competition which is open to youths in all the ten (10) Regions of Cameroon will have 40 best projects selected for incubation in C-DIC on February 4th 2022 and the award  of 15 special prizes to the best ICT projects of the year on March 18th, 2022. 

During his presentation on the statistics of the previous editions with respect to the number of registered and successful candidates, their present state, difficulties encountered as well as their expectations,  Mr. Olivier Nyako Wadjore, Sub Director in charge of the Promotion  and Popularization of ICTs, revealed that the number of interested startups  is experiencing  an exponential increase from over 250 registered in 2019 to over 450 in the 2020 edition. This is evidence of the growing interest of youths in the digital sector. Once again, the Minister of P&T througg the cream of media men and women invited the youths to let wild their imaginations and grasp a chance to be part of history making in the digital development of Cameroon by hitting on the website www.ictinnovationweek.cm for details and possible registration beginning Saturday 18th December, 2021.