The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) has opened
calls for the seventh edition of the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) with the theme
“investing in inclusive innovation ecosystems” dangling US$ 185 000 as reward on offer, reports ITRealms.
With this call, ITRealms gathered the
organisers are inviting
submissions to reward the best home-grown innovations on
the continent, which seeks to celebrate outstanding breakthroughs that deliver practical, and commercially
viable African solutions that are innovative and sustainable.
Confirming the
call, the IPA Director, Pauline Mujawamariya Koelbl, said they were pleased to launch
IPA 2018, expressing confident that this edition will prove bigger and better
in terms of participation and quality of submissions.
“With each edition, IPA has gone from strength
to strength attracting innovators across disciplines and with outstanding
solutions to African challenges. For this seventh edition, we also look forward
to expanding our ever-growing network of innovators, enablers and partners in
order to join hands and build stronger, more sustainable innovation ecosystems
that will propel the continent forward,” she said.
Koelbl
explained that the call for entries will run for three months starting from 10
October 2017 with a submission deadline of 10 January 2018, saying that IPA’s goal
is to strengthen African innovation ecosystems by supporting a culture of
innovation and competitiveness, whilst spurring growth of innovative,
market-driven African solutions to African challenges.
“Specifically,
IPA honours and encourages pioneering achievements that contribute towards
developing new products, increasing efficiency and or saving cost in Africa.
Applications will be accepted from all Africans including those living in the
diaspora. This edition
encourages greater participation from women innovators who are increasingly playing a key role in
driving African economies forward through business and entrepreneurship,” she
said.
In addition, ITRealms reports that the
submissions will be judged on the backdrop of IPA’s themes supporting social
and economic innovation in the following five categories: manufacturing and service industry; health and well-being; agriculture
and agri-business; environment, energy and water; and ICT showcasing
ground-breaking innovations.
Just as the IPA 2018 winners will be unveiled
at an annual ceremony in July 2018, pointed out that award is the leading
innovation event on the African calendar, bringing together some of Africa’s
most inspiring innovators and entrepreneurs, leaders of hubs and accelerators,
angel and venture capital investors, development institutions, government
leaders, media practitioners and other
game changers.
Nonye Dom/GEE
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