The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) has announced the call for its 2018 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) applications. The IPA main purpose is to strengthen African innovation ecosystems through supporting a culture of innovation and competitiveness, whilst spurring growth of innovative, market-driven African solutions to African challenges. The IPA 2018 recognizes innovative breakthroughs that unlock new African potential in the following five priority areas: agriculture and agribusiness; environment, energy and water; health and well-being; ICTs; manufacturing and service industry.
Eligible innovations MUST be by Africans for Africa. Africans in the Diaspora can also apply if their innovations are of significance for Africa. The working definition of Africans is persons who:
a) Hold the passport of an African country, OR
b) if they hold the passport of a non-African country, they are able to demonstrate that they are either recently naturalized in their new country or at most they are a first-generation African of their new nationality.
The First Prize winner will be awarded US$100,000 and should represent the best of the applicants in terms of innovativeness of their solution, the commercial and scalability potential, and social impact.
The closing date for the IPA 2018 competition is on January 10, 2018 (Tuesday) at 23:59. More information is available at http://innovationprizeforafrica.org/.
The Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) honors and encourages innovative achievements that contribute toward developing new products, increasing efficiency, or saving cost in Africa. Priority areas for the IPA include agriculture and agribusiness; environment, energy, and water; and others. The competition is open to African entrepreneurs, academics, and inventors — and to Africans in the Diaspora if their innovations are of significance for Africa. Prizes are US$100 thousand for the winner, plus two other prizes of US$25 thousand each. Additionally, finalists will receive a voucher for US$5 thousand in post-prize technical support to assist in moving their innovations to the next step. The deadline for submission of applications is on January 10, 2018. Click on the following link for more information.