The Digital Lab Africa

Application Deadline: January 13th, 2019

The Digital Lab Africa call for projects targets artists, producers, designers, start-ups, students in the media and creative industries. The call is open to anyone from Sub-Saharan Africa having an innovative project in 5 categories of multimedia production : web creation, virtual reality, video game, animation and digital music.

DLA is looking for projects at initial stage of development, in need of partners and financial support and innovative in terms of narration, content or technologies.

Digital Lab Africa (DLA) is a platform and a call for projects dedicated to creative content linked with innovation in Africa (web creation, virtual reality, video game, animation, digital music). The very idea of DLA is to incubate next-gen creative talent by offering them a springboard to jump-start and accelerate their projects with the support and expertise of DLA ecosystem (studios, events, producers, broadcasters, distributors, experts, incubation venues…) from France and Sub-Saharan African countries.

The Digital Lab Africa call for projects is open to anyone from the field of digital content creation: artists, producers, designers, start-ups, SMEs, collectives, students or entrepreneurs, based in Sub-Saharan Africa or a national of a country in this region.

Categories:

• Web Creation
• Virtual Reality
• Video Game
• Digital Music
• Animation

Selection:

• Following the call for projects, 30 projects are selected for the final Pitch Competition. The video pitch of of each of the 30 competitors are displayed online on a voting platform where the audience has the opportunity to watch and vote for their favorite pitch.
• After individual interviews with each of the 30 finalists, 10 projects are finally selected by the DLA’ Selection Committees as winners of the DLA.

Benefits:

• The 10 winning projects (2 projects per category) are granted with a 42,000ZAR cash prize and a Digital Lab Africa Incubation Pass to accelerate their project

DLA INCUBATION PASS

• Each of the 10 projects’ holders are mentored by both French and African experts to benefit from the expertise of several ecosystems. They benefit from access to Dassault Systèmes’ global expertise network for support, management and services they need for their projects development.
• Alongside the DLA mentorship program, the 10 mentees have the opportunity to be immersed in those ecosystems thanks to residency programs within digital clusters and participation in benchmark industry events in France or in Sub-Saharan African region.
• The expected outcome of DLA incubation program is market ready content.
  The DLA Incubation Pass includes
• mentorship program by French and Sub-Saharan African industry key players
• residency period in France or in Sub-Saharan African countries within a creative cluster
• participation at industry events in France or in the Sub-Saharan African region.

Timeline:

• Call for projects (14 November 2018 – 13 January 2019)
• 14 November 2018 – 13 January 2019: call for projects
• March 2019: announcement of the selected projects for the Pitch Competition April 2019: announcement of the DLA#3 winners

Final Pitch Competition (March 2019)

• Following the call for projects, 30 projects are selected for the final Pitch Competition by the DLA’ Selection Committees members. The “Video Pitch” of the 30 competitors are displayed online on a voting platform where the audience has the opportunity to watch and vote for their favorite pitch. After individual interviews with each of the finalists, 10 projects are finally selected by the DLA’ Selection Committees as winners of the DLA Pitch Competition.
• The 10 winning projects (2 projects per category) are granted with a 42,000ZAR cash prize and a Digital Lab Africa Incubation Pass to accelerate their project.

DLA Incubation Pass (May-December 2019)

The incubation phase will roll out during a period of 3 to 6 months between May and December 2019. It will be adapted to the specific needs of the projects and will include a period of residence in France of variable duration depending on the projects, up to a limit of one month.

How to Apply:

Applicants must: 1/ Fill the online form in 2/ Email the application files (in French or in English) to [email protected]

Application files
• Pitch deck / Presentation document (PDF, PowerPoint or Word) including:
– project’s overview, concept, statement of intent…
– development and production schedule, provisional budget, target audience and strategy
• Visual element and/or research document
– Storyboard / mood board / graphics / portfolio / screenplay (for web creation, animation or VR projects)
– Game design document (for video game projects)
– Any preview, pilot or video demo of the project (if available, for all types of projects)
• A cover letter explaining why you want to be part of the DLA Mentorship & Incubation program (1-page maximum)
• A resume/curriculum vitae of the applicant and/or description of the company represented
• A picture (.jpeg) of the applicant

Application Procedure:

Email the following application files (in French or in English) to [email protected] before January 13th, 2019

• Pitch deck / Presentation document (PDF, PowerPoint or Word) including:
  – project’s overview, concept, statement of intent…
  – development and production schedule, provisional budget, target audience and strategy

• Visual element and/or research document
  – Storyboard / mood board / graphics / portfolio / screenplay (for web creation, animation or VR projects
  – Game design document (for video game projects)
  – Any preview, pilot or video demo of the project (if available, for all types of projects)

• A cover letter explaining why you want to be part of the DLA Mentorship & Incubation program (1-page maximum)
• A resume/curriculum vitae of the applicant and/or description of the company represented
• A picture (.jpeg) of the applicant

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Digital Lab Africa 2018