Explore resources, training materials, testimonials, video clips and more.
In order to best assist the needs of techhubs and entrepreneurs in Africa and Europe, the AEIP gatheres and continuously updates a list of more than +50 useful resources on topics such as European funding opportunities, techhub management and business models, innovative approaches to startup support and technology transfer.
The objective of this transport component of the broader Africa Climate Business Plan (ACBP) is to begin to mainstream climate benefits into the World Bank’s transport program for Sub-Saharan Africa, the better to assist African countries in bringing their climate change efforts to scale. It is a first step towards mainstreaming responses to the climate challenge into transport programs in Africa, and it represents the first time the Transport & ICT GP has produced a work plan for its investment and technical assistance operations that takes into account the content of countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and attempts to align World Bank support to the goals stated therein.
The transport work plan under this Africa Climate Business Plan will consist of up to $3.2 billion in investments and technical assistance over the 2016-2020 period – including $2.8 billion in World Bank funds. Those investments will help to make progress on two strategic objectives: (1) improving the resilience of African transport infrastructure to climate change by defining four pillars of resilient transport; and (2) improving the carbon-efficiency of transport systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.
To access this report, please click on the link below.
This paper presents results from a randomized field experiment that examined the effects of mass media campaigns informing about a new technology on the adoption decisions of households in rural Senegal. While some communities were exposed to a campaign broadcasted on national radio that informed households about the general benefits and quality of solar lamps, other communities were exposed to the same radio campaign complemented with information that singled out the most suitable lamp type for all main technological applications. The authors exploit the difference between the two campaigns to examine the extent to which certain information characteristics matter for the uptake of the technological innovation.
Results from our experiment show that information on optimal lamp types was required to increase adoption of solar lamps on the extensive margin (more people investing in lamps). However, the type-unspecific information increased adoption on the intensive margin (existing users investing in more lamps). These findings can be explained by a simple learning model of selective attention that the authors adjusted to the study setting, where households engage in home production and spend time as well as mental energy to learn about technological features that maximize returns.
To access this paper, please go here: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/34339
Climate Change Provides Developing Countries with an Opportunity to Build Local Green Industries!
Climate change will have its largest impacts on developing countries, with poor populations particularly hard hit and unable to adequately adapt (World Bank, 2013a). There are ongoing efforts to assist developing countries with efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change through the deployment of appropriate climate and clean technologies. However, the main thrust of many of these efforts is to transfer technology from the developed world without regard to local industry involvement. There is an opportunity for developing countries to pursue a complementary approach, emphasizing building up the capabilities of local firms to participate in the business opportunities surrounding climate change. Climate change therefore represents an opportunity for developing countries to build local green industries that can drive sustainable economic growth and provide environmental benefits.
UNIDO and GEF are working together under the Global cleantech Innovation programme (GcIp) to accelerate cleantech innovation and entrepreneurship in developing countries and economies in transition. They have prepared a programme that promotes climate and clean energy technology innovation and entrepreneurship.
Today’s clean technology innovations will more than likely fuel the next industrial revolution that will shape tomorrow’s global economy and job market. Recognizing the vital role that SMEs play in catalyzing technology innovations, the GCIP is unique in its approach of fostering the expansion of SMEs into cleantech products and markets, thus strengthening the entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem in emerging economies and developing countries. From identification of technology innovations to their commercialization and application, the GCIP supports entrepreneurs across the innovation value chain to develop demand- driven and investment-ready climate solutions.
To learn about this programme, please go here: https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/files/2018-12/GCIP-Brochure-2018.pdf
Although the crucial role of business, and of business-based approaches, in development is increasingly emphasised by academics and practitioners, we lack insight into the ‘whether and how’ of viable business models, in environmental, social and economical terms. This article analyses private-sector involvement in development, including a business perspective of firm-level factors, taking the case of sustainable energy in developing countries.
Findings – Existing studies on sustainable energy take macro-economic and/or policy-oriented approaches, containing specific case studies of rural electrification and/or recommended financing/delivery models. We categorize them on two dimensions (levels of subsidies and public/private involvement) and conclude that market-based models operating without subsidies do hardly exist in theory – and also not in practice, as our study shows that companies can at best have part of their portfolio non-subsidized based on customer segmentation or require socially-oriented investors/funders.
Research limitations/applications – This exploratory study can be a starting point for further in- depth analyses.
Practical implications – The article outlines challenges faced by companies/entrepreneurs when aiming for viable business models, and provides insights to policy-makers who want to further the role of business in sustainable (energy) development.
Download your copy and discover the answers to these questions:
The Global Cleantech Innovation Index (GCII), produced in 2012, 2014, and 2017, explores where entrepreneurial clean technology companies are most likely to emerge from over the next 10 years – and why.
This edition of the GCII has been created in partnership with World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Swedish Energy Agency (SEA), and Tillväxtverket.
To access report, please go here: http://info.cleantech.com/WWF-Index-2017_WWF-Index-2017-Submit.html
Parallel session: Cleantech challenge: discuss global challenge & innovative ways forward
The objective of this parallel session was for the panellists (startups, corporates and organisations active in the cleantech/renewable energy space) to share their perspectives and discuss what their respective organisations are doing to address the cleantech/renewable energy global challenge. Moreover, the panellists also had the opportunity to discuss what is needed to support the growth of sustainable, ‘clean technology’ companies in both Africa and Europe.
This session was moderated by Nekesa Were, the Director of Strategy at AfriLabs.
Below is a summary on the key points that each speaker stated during this parallel session:
Martin Garatt, the Founder and Chief Executive of Cambridge Cleantech (UK organisation that connects innovators, corporates, academics, SMEs and investors interested in cleantech innovations):
At Cambridge Cleantech, they facilitate brokerage between corporates and investors interested in investing in cleantech companies. For instance, they work with deutche telecom in this area. They cover a range of domains in the cleantech sector, for instance – renewable energy, low carbon and environmental (waste management and environmental treatment).
This session was split into two parts.
In part 1, several case studies conducted by the community of practice were presented: The first case study focused on reverse innovation and was presented by the AEIP team. It discussed how technologies and innovation in Europe needs to be tailored to the needs in Africa in order to be revelant. A good practice example was provided of a collaboration between a German and a Nigerian partner in public health. Reverse innovation means that the technolgoies and innovations underlying final products are more important when trying to adapt these to new markets. It was recommended that more networking space for private sectors actors from both continents were created, that resilitent R&I systems and innovation-friendly environments should be promoted and that African coutries invest in R&I systems.
During the June 29th parallel session on the AEIP tech hub network, a brief overview was presented on the state of play of the AEIP tech hub network and the self-sustainability plan following the end of the project. A total of 42 tech hubs participated in this session.
Below is a summary on the presentation given on the AEIP network work:
The first AEIP networking event took place in September 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya; the second and third networking events were virtual events respectively in April 2020 and December 2020.
A total of 127 European and African tech hubs were integrated into the AEIP tech hub network.
To date, 42 partnership agreements between African and European tech hubs.
The collaborations have resulted in a combination of soft-landing support services for startups (networking, mentoring, knowledge exchange, market access, branding) and best practice exchange (exchange missions, joint events, network building, talent scouting).
In regard to the overview/self-sustainability, the following was presented:
The AEIP pilot project will come to an end in September 2021
Several relevant follow-on initiatives funded by the European Commission, also by African Development Bank & the European Investment Bank will continue to support tech hub networking & start-up exchanges:
The Foodwaste session took place within the realm of the AEIP final event on June 29th 2021. The aim of this session was to take stock of the AEIP Foodwaste Thematic Challenge and discuss good practices, lessons learnt, funding opportunities and ways forward. The AEIP Foodwaste Thematic Challenge was launched in January 2021 and connects techhubs and start-ups from Africa, Europe and India building on the already existing platform of the Europe-India Innovation Partnership. The platform includes over 80 start-ups focusing on solutions for foodwaste in various areas including smart farming, food processing, logistics and packaging, supply chain management and waste management.
As part of the Thematic Challenge start-ups from the different regions where matched to explore mutual cooperation potentials. During the session three start-up-matches introduced their partnerships, as well as the development, the state of the art and needs thereof.
Further, two potentially interesting funding opportunities (projects/organizations), the WFP Innovation Accelerator and LEAP4FNSSA, were introduced. More information can be found here:
LEAP4FNSSA: www.leap4fnssa.eu
WFP Innovation Accelerator: https://innovation.wfp.org
On June 29th, 2021, a parallel session was organised on the ‘AEIP Cleantech thematic challenge update stock-taking & ways forward for continuity’. This session started off with a brief overview on the objective and state of play of the AEIP cleantech thematic challenge. Below is an overview on the presentation:
The AEIP cleantech thematic challenge was launched to support tech hubs in the AEIP network and their relevant portfolio startups to collaborate in a more targeted manner.
The objective was to match European and African cleantech startups working on similar technology solutions and/or to assist the startups with soft-landing partnerships in the other region.
24 African & 11 European tech hubs participated in the thematic challenge by bringing together a total of 35 cleantech startups from their portfolio to join the challenge.
The general sub-topics that the European and African cleantech startups focused on: renewable energy, clean coal or smart grid & energy storage solutions.
In addition, during the parallel session on June 29th, presentations were given by the following startups and tech hubs that are actively participating in the AEIP cleantech thematic challenge:
AEIP cleantech collaboration between Kenya Biogas Program (Kenyan cleantech startup) and Waziup e.V. (German tech hub)
On June 29th 2021, as part of the AEIP6 event the EdTech session took place. Central goal was to address the top two needs shared by the startups from Africa and Europe that have participated in the AEIP thematic challenge on EdTech.
The following aspects were discussed:
1. Addressing the challenges of digitization & education
This document has been developed in the framework of the capacity upgrading activities delivered as part of the AEIP project.
By exploring this document readers can expect to gain a clear understanding of:
• How to capitalise on the green and social values that motivate and guide green start-ups in delivering sustainable innovations?
• How to support the process of growing a business idea to convert it into a profitable and sustainability-oriented business models innovation in cleantech?
• How to improve the sustainability profile of an existing business idea?
• How to integrate brainstorming from multiple stakeholders and build a business case
The following sections are organised following the same structure of the “Sustainable Business Modelling for Cleantech” webinar. A first section presents a brief overview of the relevance of sustainable business models patterns on innovation activities. Section two includes a brief description of the case study used during the webinar session. A third section describes the activities carried out during the workshop, and key results from the practical exercise implemented. A fourth and final section includes references and a brief vitae of the team behind the preparation and delivery of the workshop.
To access the report, please click Download below.
Africa Europe Innovation Partnership (AEIP) would like to share our handbook on on building capacities on Corporate Innovation!
Based on the needs assessment done at the start of the AEIP project, capacity upgrading activities will be implemented in light of enhancing individual, organizational and institutional knowledge & skills. This capacity upgrading targets African entrepreneurs, tech hubs and technology transfer actors, in a bid to facilitate technology and innovation partnerships between EU and Africa. The first training module specifically looked at the landscape of EU funding opportunities specifically designed to support the strengthening of African incubators/accelerators, startups and entrepreneurs. The second training focused on developing sustainable business models. The 3rd training session seeks to deep dive into matters of financing for start-ups. The 4th training focused on Technology Transfer Offices.
The 5th training topic was “Driving Corporate Innovation in Africa: Key Challenges and Opportunities”. It was organized in collaboration with Co-Creation Hub (Cc-Hub). Cc-Hub is Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space designed to be a multi-functional space where work to catalyse creative social tech ventures take place.
Africa Europe Innovation Partnership (AEIP) would like to share our handbook on building capacities of African Technology Transfer Offices!
As part of the AEIP project and based on the need assessment done at the start of the project, capacity upgrading activities will be implemented in light of enhancing individual, organizational and institutional knowledge & skills. This capacity upgrading targets African entrepreneurs, tech hubs and technology transfer actors, in a bid to facilitate technology and innovation partnerships between EU and Africa. The first training module specifically looked at the landscape of EU funding opportunities specifically designed to support the strengthening of African incubators/accelerators, startups and entrepreneurs. The second training in partnership with Afric’Innov focused on developing sustainable business models.The 3rd training session seeks to deep dive into matters of financing for start-ups with a particular focus to private funding in partnership with VC4A.
Africa Europe Innovation Partnership (AEIP) would like to share our handbook on accelerating innovation in a time of a crisis : a tech hub effort!
A number of capacity upgrading sessions are developed as part of the AEIP project in light of enhancing the abilities of the African start-up and entrepreneurial eco-system to engage in collaborative activities with their EU counterparts. Capacity upgrading activities are also meant to strengthen the African innovation eco-systems on the basis of mutual exchange and learning with European counterparts.
Africa Europe Innovation Partnership (AEIP) would like to share our handbook on developing sustainable business models! It looks at a context where many African tech hubs are still quite young and do not yet have a stabilized business plan.
This training is delivered by the European Commission in partnership with Afric’Innov1, a leading African incubator network.
This capacity upgrading module and handbook is mainly of interest to African stakeholders wishing to refine the business model of their tech hubs based on practical experience by others practitioners in the field. By exploring the handbook readers can expect to learn about :
• matching the support services provided effectively with the entrepreneurs and startups’ needs over time ;
• fundraising for tech hubs ;
• sourcing projects and entrepreneurs.
To access the handbook, please click Download below.
The need to adopt digital technologies is forcing companies to re-think their approach to corporate innovation. For several decades, starting in the 1960s, innovation was concentrated in R&D centers at large firms, which gave those firms a competitive advantage in setting the direction of innovation and harvesting its benefits. However, starting in the 1990s, this model began to be disrupted by the confluence of new digital technologies, venture capital and increasingly-fast consumer adoption of new technologies. Companies started to build innovation ecosystems that evolved into an “open innovation” model. This was particularly valuable because many digital technologies are general- purpose, and thus the best experts are often outside the firm, and in other industries.
As new digital technologies are introduced at ever-faster rates, there will increasingly be opportunities to capture new markets and unseat incumbents. For large corporations, this scenario is double-edged; while they have an opportunity to unseat others, they also face the risk of being unseated themselves.
Digital technologies don’t just threaten large corporations, they can also be a source of immense value-creation. Thus, since adoption rates for new technologies have accelerated in recent decades, there is increased potential for rapid value-creation and value-capture for firms that can bring innovative solutions to market.
Any CTO or Innovation Leader will be very familiar with the follow- ing question from the CEO. It goes something like “You know I’m fully committed to innovation... but is all of our investment really necessary? Our competitors seem to be growing as fast as us, yet they spend less of their revenue on R&D than we do. Can you assure me that we’re really getting the best return on our innova- tion spend?”
What might seem at first sight to be a straightforward question can be quite difficult to answer. There are numerous complications around what we really mean by ‘Innovation’, ‘Investment’ and ‘Return’, and indeed what effective management means in this context, such as:
What should we include and exclude in ‘innovation investment?’
What types of value do we care about?
Which methods should we use to assess value?
What’s the best way to communicate the results?
In this article we explore the challenges of managing the Return On Investment (ROI) of innovation, and provide some examples of good practice and key factors for success.
If you are interested in this article, please go here: https://www.adlittle.com/sites/default/files/prism/ROI.PDF
If you want to learn on corporate innovation, please check out our webinar materials "Driving corporate innovation in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities".
On 23rd March 2021, the AEIP together with Laura Macdonald, Chief Executive of the ASTP knowledge transfer network, organised a webinar "Why Intellectual Property matters, from African tech hub perspective".
During the conversation, Laura presented a range of activities delivered by ASTP, and the value for knowledge transfer professionals in collaborating through the network approach. In addition, one of ASTPs African members shared experience working with the network. Participants of the webinar were offered the possibility to obtain a temporary digital membership to ASTP platform free of cost.
The recording of the webinar is available below. If you want to see the presentation slides used during the webinar, please click Download button below.
The entrepreneurial solutions developed today are leveraging innovations to help stabilize the effects of the pandemic. EU|BICs have a long history in supporting founders and innovation-based startups. From their origins till today, EU|BICs have delivered on their original mandate: to drive regional economic development. EU|BICs remain catalysts for entrepreneurship and innovation, providing tailored support services to entrepreneurs according to their needs, challenges and stages of development.
In 2019, EU|BICs actively supported close to 21,000 companies and helped enterprises create close to 20,000 jobs. However, like any other business, the global pandemic is forcing business support organisations and the support services they provide to be open to change. While the role of support organisations remains relevant during the present coronavirus pandemic, one key question is: how will the Covid-19 crisis shape the future of incubation and business counselling?
While it is hard to predict the future, we can try to understand what lies ahead by analysing current trends. EBN, in collaboration with the CAST network, has recently promoted a survey among business support organisations collecting data on the challenges faced as a consequence of the Covid-19 outbreak. By analysing the data, we were able to identify key solutions to guarantee business continuity.
On the 27th of January 2021, the AEIP, in partnership with the Ventures Platform, organised a webinar “Startup fundraising and Preparing tech hub managers to be Financial Mentors”. This webinar is a follow-up from the training provided by the AEIP in June 2020 “Acceleration innovation in times of crisis”. Preparing Hub managers to be financial Mentors and understanding what a financial mentor is. The topics which have been discussed during the webinar include:
On the 26th of January 2021, the AEIP, in partnership with F360, organised a webinar for tech hub representatives and policy makers. The webinar focused on how to promote female entrepreneurship through tech hub support, building capacities of tech hubs and startups to ensure gender equity.
Participants explored different themes of gender equalisation in the African tech space (including the drivers and challenges). The key questions which have been discussed are the following:
The Africa-Europe Innovation Partnership fifth event (AEIP Event 5) integrated a new cohort of 11 African and 11 European tech hubs (cohort 2) that have yet to participate in any of the AEIP networking events. In addition, 9 (cohort 1) tech hubs (5 from Africa and 4 from Europe) were invited to this networking event due to their active involvement in the AEIP tech hub cleantech challenge as well as their continued engagement and collaborative activities with tech hubs in the network.
The goal of this networking event was to support participating tech hubs to internationalise faster and gain a deeper understanding of the innovation ecosystems in Africa or Europe, respectively. The programme focused on interactions between tech hub participants through joint plenaries and breakout sessions, with the AEIP team monitoring discussions and facilitating as needed. The tech hubs were matched to counterparts from the other region and placed in breakout rooms during the event in order for them to get to develop and outline envisaged collaborative activities they could collaborate on i.e., form soft-landing partnerships, exchange on best practices, apply for joint funding opportunities, and connect to startups from the other continent.
Following the launching of the H2020 Africa Green Deal call by the European Commission, the AEIP organised a series of webinars to enlighten innovation actors from Africa and Europe on the benefits of participating in a H2020 call as well as on the specifics of the Green Deal Africa Call.
The first webinar took place on 1st December 2020. It was attended by over 40 organisations, mostly from Africa. The webinar informed participants about the application procedure for the H2020 calls, advised on how to build a consortia and provided insights into specifics of the H2020 calls. The presentation of the Green Deal Africa call was given by two Senior Officials of the European commission: Dr. Piero Venturi, Science Counsellor to the African Union, Delegation of the European Union to the African Union; and Philippe Schild, European Commission, DG RTD.
Following the workshop series organised by the Africa Europe Innovation Partnership (AEIP) and VC4A on the 8th, 11th and 15th of June 2020 to African tech hubs, the attached material contains the presentations made by the different experts during the online workshops.
The training targeted African tech hubs that offer acceleration services, and sought to enhance the hubs capacities to offer sustainable and effective acceleration programs despite the covid-19 crisis. The objectives of the training included:
The WAZIHUB project, funded by the European Commission under H2020 program, was designed to exploit IoT potential and Big-Data technologies best-practices through the involvement of innovators. The project aims to enable the creation of a network of Open Hubs throughout Africa where:
1. Entrepreneurs and developers can be trained,
2. Innovative IoT technology solutions can be adapted,
3. New business can rise to match local service needs.
The second AEIP event was held on the 2nd - 5th December 2019 in Marseille, France. During that event the capacity upgrading training on building sustainable business models for tech hubs was provided.
Participants of the training gained practical insights in the following areas:
• Matching the tech hub support services with the entrepreneurs and startups’ needs over time
• Fundraising for tech hubs
• Sourcing projects and entrepreneurs
The booklet of Africa-Europe Innovation Partnership presents activities and importance of the initiative for both continents. It outlines the AEIP approach and innovation system strategy to build on the strongest potential of new partnerships and collaboration. Have a look at testimonies of participants and stakeholders involved! In order to access the booklet please download the file below.
enpact e.V. will run a new 8-month mentoring programme for technology businesses from Africa and Europe. The programme aims to strengthen technology focus and foster international partnerships between technology businesses from Africa and Europe.
It is another initiative under the Strategic Partnership Digital Africa (SPDA) - a network of the German development cooperation and over 200 European companies with the aim to initiate innovative public-private projects in African countries - funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and coordinated by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The programme target group are businesses with a
special focus on the support of women, either directly (with special programmes targeting women as employees on all levels - especially in executive positions) or indirectly with products and services that are especially designed for women empowerment.
The programme offers coaching and mentoring for founders by international mentors to strengthen their business model, growth strategy, roadmap, international network and partnerships. 15 companies will be selected to participate in the programme, which will include:
The population boom in West African countries is bringing more and more young people into a labor market that cannot yet absorb them. Many of these young people are now turning to entrepreneurship as a source of employment. This, however, often takes the form of subsistence and informal entrepreneurship.
Unlike growth and innovative entrepreneurship, this form of entrepreneurship is not capable of generating sustainable jobs and therefore cannot act as an engine for economic development.
Innovative entrepreneurship is proven to be a determining factor of growth: it stimulates productivity, creates jobs and helps improve citizens’ quality of life. So-called ‘growth entrepreneurs’ are the drivers behind this innovation and they contribute to their countries’ economic and social development. As Joseph Schumpeter once said, ”innovation is the driving force of economic progress, and entrepreneurs are the agents of innovation.”
Academic paper on the Introduction to supporting entrepreneurs through the lenses of academic research. Article writen by Didier Chabaud, Karim Messeghem, Sylvie Sammut and available in French language only.
After encouraging the creation of companies based on the results of public research, the challenge for public authorities is now more to grow these companies to benefit the national economy from their high potential. This article examines the role that support can play in the growth of these businesses. It draws on the analysis of ten years of operation of a public incubator, Languedoc-Roussillon Incubation, to propose avenues for action. Article is available in French language only.
This contribution offers a modelization of the entrepreneurial accompanying relation with a focus on players'games and intersubjectivity which are constitutive elements of the accompanying relation. Critical configurations which restrict nascent entrepreneur's learning capability are described. The article is only available in French language.
Toolkit for Business Incubators in developing countries and training materials consisting of the following modules:
Analysis of the business incubator and their ecosystem.
Report concerning promotion of best practices for business incubators in growing new businesses. In particular, the report analyses which activities and services are of most added-value to startups.
One of the main deliverable of the Cleantech Incubation Europe (CIE) INTERREG IVC project is this handbook aiming to share best practices from the incubation of cleantech start-ups across Europe to foster entrepreneurship and the green economy.
Start-up Guide for Incubator Developers detailing issues faced by SMEs, reasons for business incubation and various models for business incubators.
