2025 Excellence in Technology Innovation Award
The ICT University Foundation has named Mr. Precious Esong S., as the 2025 recipient of its Excellence in Technology Innovation Award under the Annual Technology Innovation Challenge. This international, Pan-African distinction honours innovators and researchers whose technology-driven solutions address critical education and healthcare challenges across Africa, and the 2025 cycle marks the first-ever cohort under the Challenge’s current framework. The programme attracts hundreds of applications from innovators, early-stage ventures, and student-led teams in multiple countries; only a small fraction are shortlisted, making final selection for the Excellence in Technology Innovation Award a highly selective honour within a strong international field.
Awardees are chosen through a rigorous, multi-stage, merit-based process. The Challenge begins with a widely publicised call for applications inviting African innovators and teams working on education and healthcare solutions. Submitted proposals, minimum viable products, or prototypes are screened for eligibility, completeness, and alignment with the Challenge’s priorities, after which the shortlisted projects are evaluated by a panel of academics, industry leaders, and subject-matter experts. Judges apply explicit criterias including innovation and creativity, relevance to the African context, impact potential, scalability and sustainability, technical feasibility, and strength of presentation and recommend only those demonstrating the strongest overall combination of excellence, feasibility, and real-world impact for top honours. The award is therefore reserved for candidates who can translate complex ideas into scalable, African-centred innovations.
In this inaugural 2025 cohort, Mr. Esong was selected for his pioneering work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, behavioural health, and diabetes care, particularly in low-resource settings. His research centres on developing an AI-driven mental health system to support low-resource environments and a digital framework for screening and managing diabetes distress, grounded in an AI-enabled, human-centred design approach. A Pan-African scholar, he holds a double Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health and in Environmental Sustainability and Agricultural Science from the Pan African Institute for Development in Buea, Cameroon, and recently earned an MBA in Healthcare Management from ECU—an R1 research institution in the United States—where he also became PMP®-certified and received the Stakeholder’s Choice Award at ECU’s 2025 Research and Creative Achievement Week for his work on AI-enabled diabetes distress care. At ECU Health Medical Center, he serves as a Coordinator in the Emergency Department, leading patient-centred care and operational improvement, and previously made history as the first African-born international Vice President of ECU’s Graduate and Professional Student Senate between Fall 2023 and Spring 2025. He is a distinguished member of Omicron Delta Kappa, the premier U.S. national leadership honour society; a member of the Global Association of Research and Innovation; and a Fellow of the NSF CCEDS National Research Traineeship, one of the most competitive graduate-level research fellowships in the United States.
According to Prof. Foluso Ayeni, Ph.D., Vice-President of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Technology Innovation Challenge Committee, Mr. Esong’s selection in this inaugural cohort “sets a high standard for what the Excellence in Technology Innovation Award will represent in future years,” showcasing how artificial intelligence, human-centred design, and public health can be combined to tackle real-world challenges for example, diabetes distress and mental health in low-resource communities. The ICT University Foundation regards this distinction as recognition of both his exceptional innovation and research excellence and the global significance of his contributions and warmly congratulates Mr. Precious Esong while expressing confidence in his continued impact at the frontiers of technology and healthcare innovation.
P.O. Box 526
1 Avenue Dispensaire Messassi
Zoatoupsi, Yaounde, Cameroon
Important Dates
Paper Submission Open - Jan 6th 2025
Paper submission deadline May 15 2025
Panel proposal submission deadline May 15 2025