Application Deadline: January 29, 2023
AEDIB|NET: Bridging Digital Innovation Ecosystems across Africa and Europeis the first step of a broader approach to the African–European collaboration on digitalisation and innovation. The project was launched under the broader political initiative AEDIB. Initiated by EU Member States (France, Belgium, and Germany) and the European Commission to the EC’s Digital 4 Development process (D4D).
Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme and coordinated by GIZ in Germany, AEDIB|NET brings together a network of strong partners from the African and European innovation ecosystem with the ambition to:
- Inspire the ecosystem actors by developing a supportive innovation policy framework for innovation, building the capacity of marginalised groups and enhancing digital and entrepreneurship skills via a ‘Digital Entrepreneur Skills Academy’.
- Create Digital Innovation by establishing African Digital Innovation Hubs (ADIHs), a Digital Hub Lab, online marketplaces with virtual communities and investor networks. The ADIHs will focus on four topics: Climate Smart Agriculture, Smart Cities, Digital Trade and Clean Tech.
- Connect start-ups, SMEs, DIHs, diaspora and other African and European ecosystem players in trans-continental partnerships to facilitate inter-continental collaboration and the creation of a common digital innovation ecosystem.
On behalf of the AEDIB|NET consortium, the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN) is looking for 100 start–up (50 in Africa and 50 in Europe) to participate in one of the two Virtual Partnership Programmes managed by two innovation centres (1 in Africa and 1 in Europe) within the framework of AEDIB|NET project.
The virtual partnership programme will be designed with core shared elements for all the 50 start-ups in each area, and tailor-made components meeting specific needs detected in the companies within each group. The duration of the programme is designed to be 6 months. The common sessions will be focused on topics such as:
- Business development
- Start-up management
- Strategic planning
- Access to finance/credit and fundraising
- Networking sessions
- Sustainability
- Internationalisation
- EU funding
- IPR, patent, certification
- Culture training
There will be specific sessions dedicated to small groups focused on Sector specific topics, trends, best practices, main stakeholders and sessions with DIHs specialised in each of the AEDIB|NET sectors.
The Virtual Partnership Programme will be designed around the following pillars:
- Capacity-building
- Peer-learning
- Problem-solving
- Learning-by-doing
- For each block, different innovation stakeholders, including more experienced entrepreneurs, second-chance entrepreneurs, and successful start-ups, will be invited to share their experiences and best practices favouring exchanges between the participating start-ups and guest innovation stakeholders established/operating in the region.
The final aim of the programmes will be to allow start-ups to engage in learning and knowledge exchange exercises. Moreover, linking and matchmaking of tech entrepreneurs, innovation partners and intermediaries (i.e., hubs, entrepreneurship supporters, networks, academia) will be fostered to raise the capacity of tech start-ups and to support the linkages between the Digital Innovation Ecosystems in Europe and Africa.
Eligibility Requirements
The start-ups should be legally established in accordance with their country’s current legislation and have the capacity to prove it, if necessary. They also must be related to one of the groups of specialisation of the project or in the process of developing a product or service applicable to any of these sectors:
- Climate Smart Agriculture
- Smart Cities
- Digital Trade
- Clean Tech
AFRICAN START-UPS
African start-ups have to be based in some of the countries where some of the DIHs already selected in the project are located:
- Cameroon
- Côte D’Ivoire
- Egypt
- Kenya
- Morocco
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- South Africa
- Tanzania
- Tunisia
- Uganda
LANGUAGE
All the contents both, both in the Partnership Programme and in the Bootcamps, will be in English.
Selection Process:
- Please complete the following questionnaire https://forms.gle/nfM98d6kuWFooenu9 in as much detail as possible before the 29th of January 2023 at 23:59h.
- A committee will evaluate the proposals and on the week of the 13th of February, those selected to participate in the programme will be announced. The first session will be a kick-off meeting, on the 1st of March, where all the details of the programme that will run for 6 months will be explained.
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the AEDIB|NET Africa-Europe Partnership Programme Call for Start-Ups
