It is time to boost innovation in Africa and Europe

A new sustainable business and digital hub for innovation stakeholders from across Africa and Europe known as the EiA Centre has begun operation in Cape Town

The ENRICH in Africa (EiA) Centre has been launched as an outcome of the EU-funded EiA project aimed at supporting and strengthening the innovation ecosystem on the two continents.

Announced in November of 2022 at the annual EiA congress held in Nairobi, Kenya the EiA will be centralised through an online digital platform and provides a digital meeting space for various innovation stakeholders.

With senior-level decision-makers, incubator and accelerator experts, business executives, start-ups and SMEs, as well as African and European corporate investors coming together at the EiA congress the discussion of mutual future innovation has inspired progress already.

According to the European Commission, users will be required to register on the platform to gain access to what they’re hoping will be a variety of cutting-edge services.

A variety of cutting-edge services

Inspiring innovation in Africa through cooperation

A news item posted on the project website, reported that there will be services tailored for incubators and accelerators in Europe and Africa through a Champions membership programme as well as targeted programmes for entrepreneurs, such as Open Innovation Challenges and soft-landing opportunities.

The EiA project brings together 12 partners from five European countries (Belgium, Germany, France, Austria and Portugal) and four African countries (Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania).

“We are thrilled to be able to work with such a strong group of partners to add additional value to the innovation ecosystem of Europe and Africa,” states EiA Centre director Eduardo Herrmann of Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, Germany, in the article. “There is such a great amount of work already taking place in this space, but we see a real value in being able to raise the capacity of such actors as well as connect the two regions to each other,” Herrmann went on to say.