"At the African Innovation Foundation we are passionate about Africa and its potential, that we firmly believe will be led by empowering a new generation of African innovators and entrepreneurs. But we also recognise that this new generation needs the resources and the opportunities to realise their ambition," said AIF and IPA founder Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais. "IPA provides a platform to encourage and harness these entrepreneurial skills in order to help improve the lives of Africans and to help realise untapped potential. The prize is also a great way of unleashing creativity and promoting growth within the African continent."
The IPA is becoming integral to facilitating ground-breaking thinking, creativity and driving awareness to the outstanding work being done in Africa by Africans. IPA 2013 winner, AgriProtein went on to raise $11m to build its first two commercial farms in Cape Town.
All innovations are evaluated based on the following criteria: originality, marketability, scalability, social impact and scientific/technical aspects. The best submission will be awarded a grand prize of $100,000. The second prize of $25,000 will be awarded to an innovator with an innovation which has the best commercial and business potential. An additional award is a special prize granted to the innovator whose innovation has the best social impact in the community.
The IPA encourages entries in five key categories: Agriculture and Agribusiness, Environment, Energy and Water, Health and Wellbeing, ICT applications, and Manufacturing and Services Industries.
Recognising home-grown innovative ingenuity, the prize contributes to increased funding of startups, adoption of new and emerging technologies and accelerated growth of the private sector. With ever changing economic and social environments, it is critical that proposed solutions tackle issues affecting African lives, and that they are effective and are different from the existing ones.
IPA 2014 named Dr. Nicolaas Duneas and Nuno Pires from South Africa the winners of the grand prize and received $100,000 for their Altis Osteogenic Bone Matrix (Altis OBM TM), the first injectable porcine derived BMP medical device in the world - an innovative product for the treatment of bone injuries and voids through the use of a regenerative biological implant.
The IPA also beckons all investors, governments and other stakeholders interested in evaluating, investing and maximising the continent's resources to participate in this innovative and empowering initiative and make a significant change through generous contributions that will accelerate the Africa's economic growth.
The deadline for submitting applications for IPA 2015 is 31 October 2014 at midnight GMT. For more, go to www.innovationprizeforafrica.org.
