Date of Application Deadline: August 4, 2023 | Co-Creation Hub/GIZ Make-IT in Africa Uni:innovators Startup-in-Residence Program 2023
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30 student-led innovations will receive support from Co-Creation Hub as a result of the initiative in Nigeria, Namibia, and Kenya in an effort to improve and hasten the involvement of educational institutions in the developing innovation ecosystem throughout Africa. The chosen startup teams will take advantage of capacity-building workshops to enhance their research-based innovations and create prototypes centered on Greentech and smart city solutions in particular sectors — Agriculture, Energy, Circular Economy, Water, and Healthcare. Following the pitch display, 18 of these student-led teams will have the chance to interact with top researchers in their disciplines and fly to Germany for physical sessions to assist strengthen their prototypes. When appropriate, they will work with partners in the industry to construct and deploy their MVPs after receiving funding and advising support.
In order to highlight the crucial role that higher education institutions play in the larger innovation ecosystem on the continent, the program will end in a two-day summit in Nairobi, Kenya, where companies will present to an international audience of investors and stakeholders.
Six higher education institutions in the three selected nations will collaborate with Co-Creation Hub. The universities are the University of Nairobi (Kenya), Riara University (Kenya), University of Ibadan (Nigeria), University of Lagos (Nigeria), University of Namibia (Namibia), and Namibia University of Science and Technology (Namibia).
Eligibility
- Student: You must be enrolled at one of the universities listed above.
- You must specify if you are pursuing a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctorate degree.
- Travel: You must be able to travel both domestically and internationally, which requires that your passport be valid as of the day of travel.
- Creativity and Innovation: Your concept must be fresh and original, ideally supported by research.
- Viable and Feasible: Your proposal must solve a particular need for a specific consumer segment with a sizable market size.
- The program overview specifies the challenge’s scope, and your idea must fit within it.
- Team: The capacity or skill set to implement the suggested remedy.
Timeline:
- Design Sprint (6 Weeks): Over the course of six weeks, participants will attend three workshops, spaced every two weeks. The ideation, design thinking, and human-centered methods to designing solutions and developing prototypes will be the main topics of these sessions.
- On Demo Day, a panel of industry experts, including investors, industry stakeholders, and the academic community, will listen to each team’s presentations of their solutions and prototypes. Only 18 of the 30 startup teams will move on to the program’s next stage.
- Knowledge Exchange and Visit to Germany: In collaboration with Make-IT in Africa, CcHUB will find renowned research institutes and HEIs in Germany that align with the startup teams’ areas of interest and are interested in offering research mentorship for the students and teams.
- Industry Deployment Sprint (8 Weeks): For a period of two months, the 18 chosen entrepreneurs will have the chance to work and live in innovation hubs situated on their campuses. During this time, we will collaborate closely with them to introduce these solutions to the market for actual clients.
- major Demo Day + Summit in Nairobi: Finally, there will be a major demo day held in Nairobi, Kenya, when 18 startups from all three countries will pitch a demonstration of their product or solution, the traction they have attracted in the market, and their future plans for their companies.
For Additional Information
Visit the Co-Creation Hub/GIZ Make-IT in Africa Uni:nnovators Startup-in-Residence Program’s official website.
Uni:innovators Startup-in-Residence Program 2023
