Innovation Prize for Africa 2017

Celebrating African ingenuity

About IPA

Five years ago, AIF initiated the IPA to support African innovators by unlocking their potential and catalyzing the African innovation spirit, promoting home-grown solutions for Africa’s prosperity.

We seek to:

Increase Africa’s prosperity through investing in home-grown innovations and entrepreneurship
Strengthen African innovation ecosystems through our platforms and mobilize a network of innovation enablers, driving business development and cross-collaboration.
Demonstrate that African ingenuity exists at a Pan African level through honouring outstanding innovations and recognizing their positive impact in Africa and beyond

Today, IPA is a leading platform on the African innovation landscape; it has a network of 6000+ African innovators spanning 50 countries; 45 of the continent’s top innovators and 35+ innovation enablers.

The Awards:

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: US$ 100,000
SECOND PRIZEWINNER: US$ 25,000
SPECIAL PRIZE FOR SOCIAL IMPACT INNOVATION: US$ 25,000

The Priority Areas:

The IPA 2017 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.

Criteria for Selection:

In the overall assessment of winning applications, the winners are established with reference to:
The uniqueness of their innovations and superiority to similar or alternative solutions;
The size and nature of positive social impact that can be attributed to application of their innovation;
The potential of the innovation to become a commercial success or sustainable (for social innovations).