Innovation Prize for Africa 2018

Are you an African entrepreneur, academic or inventor with an innovation that could potentially provide an African solution to some of the continent’s everyday challenges? If your answer is “yes”, then you should apply for the IPA. This Prize is intended to benefit Africans who have devised outstanding innovative solutions to real African challenges.

Eligible innovations MUST be by Africans for Africa. Africans in the Diaspora can also apply if their innovations are of significance for Africa. Our 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.

• A fully completed application form with a full description of the innovation must<br />accompany each submission; if not, the entry will be disqualified.
• The innovation description should clearly illustrate the social and/or economic outcome and impact with regard to African development and the priority area chosen; it should also be in line with the IPA assessment and selection criteria.
• Application forms and description of the innovation should be in English, French or Portuguese. While the innovations can be conducted in any language including local languages, the submissions should be translated and submitted in English, French or Portuguese.
• Applicants are required to attach a letter of support/endorsement from an institution or an authority with knowledge of their innovation. This will serve as a testimony of<br />how important the innovation is in addressing development challenges faced by Africans.
• Each mandatory question on the application form MUST be answered; if not, the application will be deemed incomplete and disqualified.
• There is no application fee and age limit, but the applicant must be in a position to defend their submission at any stage of the process.

Prizes

There will be a maximum of ten nominees invited to the Awards ceremony in the host<br />country. Out of these ten, three will be selected after face-to-face interviews for the top 3 prizes while the remaining seven shall receive recognition prizes. See details below:

First Prize (US$ 100 000): The overall winner who represents the best of the applicants in terms of innovativeness of their solution, the commercial and scalability potential and social impact.

Second Prize (US$ 25 000): The innovator who best demonstrates a<br />commercially-driven business innovation. Beyond the aforementioned five criteria, this Award will be carefully assessed on its marketability and commercial potential. 

Special Prize for Social Impact (US$ 25,000): The innovation that demonstrates the greatest social impact.

Recognition Prizes (US$ 5,000): the remaining seven shall receive a voucher in<br />recognition of advancement of their innovation to the finalist stage.

APPLY HERE NOW