Addis to host Africa’s first ‘Innovation Week’
Addis Ababa is set to host the first- ever ‘African Innovation Week 2019.’ The announcement was made on Friday by IBA Ethiopia Center for Innovation.
According to the organizers of the event, African Innovation Week is a pan-African initiative of creating innovation platform determined to move Africa towards an inclusive and prosperous continent led by advancement in technology and science.
“The purpose of AIW 2019 is creating a platform to bridge the gap between innovation and investment as well as jobs among Africans and the rest of the world so as to build the future leaders of the continent. It will be creating a platform to gather innovative African, Norwegian and other international startups where they can share their experiences in addition to getting connected with potential investors, executive bodies, policymakers and game-changers to work together for sustainable and inclusive development,” reads a statement set to Ethio Newsflash.
“Africa is a continent where 60% of the entire population is youth aged below 25. All of the world’s top 10 youngest countries by median age are in Africa. Unless we embrace this fact and start investing in the youth, the statistic will remain a huge bulge that we let go to waste,” said Hailemariam Desalegn, the Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Patron of IBA Ethiopia Center for Innovation. “We have young people that are already recognized for their innovations that bring on positive change in the daily lives of people in their community. But it is important to understand that there is still a missing link in which investors can be encouraged to support these innovations.”
Hundreds of young innovators from all over Africa and Nordic countries will be taking part at the African Innovation Week 2019. The Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is undertaking the selection process of youth innovators in Ethiopia. State Minister of Innovation and Technology, Ahmedin Mohammed, underlined that his Ministry is closely working with IBA Ethiopia to ensure that young Ethiopians with great innovations are included in this continental event.
“The ministry is working on the creation of national innovation ecosystem comprising incubation, acceleration, access to funding and post incubation among other. Getting the innovators and the investors in the same platform in at the African Innovation Week goes a long way in achieving agendas of job creation, wealth creation and technology capacity building,” added the State Minister.
Via Press Release