Call for proposals

Aimed at promoting the translation of research findings into practical solutions which benefit African societies and improve the living conditions for people in Africa in the longer term, the German-African Innovation Incentive Award amongst other German-African partnerships are an important factor for success in this context. The award will be presented to an African researcher and his or her respective German cooperation partner.

It will be granted for an existing achievement and will make it possible to develop a follow-up project with which the partners can advance their research findings with a view to future commercial exploitation. The prize money amounts to 150,000 euros.

In early May 2018, German Federal Minister of Research Anja Karliczek bestowed the German-African Innovation Incentive Award on a woman scientist from Uganda as well as three of her male colleagues from Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria – together with their German cooperation partners – in recognition of their outstanding research achievements. The award-winning projects addressed innovative solutions for various aspects of life. A novel multimedia application for mobile phones, for example, improves health-related information for pregnant women in rural areas, and that includes illiterate women. In another project, cassava husks, otherwise treated as waste in Africa, are processed to create new, high-grade technology products, including construction materials.

Part of the Africa Strategy

During the ceremony, Federal Minister Anja Karliczek said that “the German-African Innovation Incentive Award is a measure that forms part of our Africa Strategy, which the Federal Ministry of Education and Research has launched to support science, research and development in Africa.”

The interest of German institutions in collaborating with African partners in research and innovation is steadily growing as African countries increasingly realize the importance of technological and social innovations as drivers of development in modern knowledge societies. The improved commercialization of research results and a better framework for entrepreneurial initiative provide the basis for employment and participatory economic development in Africa. This helps to create more self-supporting incomes in African countries themselves and to counteract the long-term brain drain.