The top ten
selected African innovators will get a share of $185 000, including a grand
prize of $100 000 and a second prize of $25 000. A special prize for social
impact worth $25 000 will also be awarded. In addition, seven IPA nominees will
each get vouchers worth $5000.
The African
Innovation Foundation (AIF) has opened entries for the Innovation Prize for
Africa (IPA) 2018 Awards. The application window will be open until 10 January
2018.
Entries are
open to all Africans, including those living in the diaspora. The AIF has
encouraged female innovators to apply following the record number of entries
submitted in last year’s edition.
An expert panel will assess
submissions against IPA’s themes and across five categories. The categories are
manufacturing and service industry, health and well-being, agriculture and
agri-business, environment, energy and water, and ICT.
The winners will be
announced in July next year (exact dates and location are yet to be confirmed).
AIF has previously
supported past winners and nominees with over $1-million. In addition, winners
also stand to benefit from exposure received via IPA with past winners going on
to secure $30-million in investments to grow and scale their startups.
Additional benefits include
access to AIF’s networks via its platform ZuaHub, through which the AIF
connects entrepreneurs with resources.
The theme of the seventh
edition of the Innovation Prize for Africa is “investing in inclusive
innovation ecosystems”.
The Innovation Prize for
Africa awards, now in their seventh year, aim to acknowledge outstanding
African solutions that are commercially viable, innovative and sustainable.
“We are pleased to launch
IPA 2018 and are 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,” IPA director Pauline Mujawamariya
Koelbl said in a press release.
“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
added.
Over 2500 applications,
with at least 19% of these from women, were submitted last year.
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