African Startups are being called to submit their entries for consideration in the fourth edition of the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) competition before the set deadline in the next seven days, 31st October 2014.
IPA 2015 will reward innovators who demonstrate a need to accelerate Africa’s development, with the innovator with the best submission to be rewarded with $100, 000 and the innovator with the best business potential getting a prize of $25, 000.
Entries are encouraged by the IPA in five categories which include ICT applications, Agriculture and Agribusiness, Environment, Energy and Water, Health and Wellbeing as well as Manufacturing and Services Industries.
The IPA competition is an annual event organised by the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) that enables and encourages African innovators to develop creative ideas and techniques to overcome challenges faced by the continent and support sustainable development.
“IPA provides a platform to encourage and harness these entrepreneurial skills in order to improve the lives of Africans and to help realise untapped potential,” said Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, the founder of AIF and IPA.
Evaluations for the innovations are based on the criteria of originality, marketability, scalability, social impact and the technical aspects.
“Africa needs meaningful investment to alleviate poverty and provide inclusive prosperity. To achieve this, we need to be able to provide environments that promote quality investment for the people and reduce risks,” said David Drew the spokesperson at AgriProtein, the IPA 2013 winner.
The innovative prize contributes to increased funding for startups, adoption of new and emerging technologies and accelerated growth of the private sector.
Investors, governments and other stakeholders interested in evaluation, investing and maximising Africa’s resources are also invited to participate in the innovative initiative and make a significant change through generous contributions to help accelerate the continent’s economic growth.
Startups wanting to submit their entries for IPA 2015 should register here, and do so before or on Friday, October 31st 2014.
