Ghana To Host The 6th Innovation Prize For Africa Awards In July 2017

Ghana will be hosting the 6th Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) Awards.

The Africa Innovation Foundation (AIF) has announced that the most celebrated innovation event in Africa will be held in Accra in July this year.

The event is in collaboration with the Government of Ghana and represented by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) and the Planning Committee for the "Ghana 60 Years On" anniversary.

The prestigious African awards will be under the theme "African innovation: Investing in Prosperity" and an avalanche of Africa's leading innovators will be gracing the occasion.

This year's event has received the highest endorsement from the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, who will also deliver a keynote address during the Awards ceremony.

Ghana’s selection as host country for IPA 2017 is as a result of her commitment towards consolidating a thriving national innovation ecosystem.

Ghana has made great strides in her 60 years of independence making the nation marketable and also receiving massive global respect.

With the presence of world class accelerators and incubators, Ghana in recent years has been become a sub-regional hub for excellence in innovation.

The Ghanaian technology and innovation ecosystem, led by a new generation of change-makers has received much international and local acclaim, making Ghana the ideal host country for IPA 2017.

Commenting on the country hosting this year's Awards, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation said “Ghana is open for business and brimming with an ecosystem of young talent that is already being tapped into.  We thank the AIF for selecting Ghana to host the IPA 2017 event and use its platform to showcase Ghana’s innovative aspirations to the global community. We are committed to building a knowledge economy, and providing platforms such as IPA to our youth to encourage them to play their role in innovatively creating solutions to African challenges. As we celebrate the 60-year anniversary of our independence, we are looking forward and committed to putting innovation at the core of our national agenda, not only to meet Ghanaian and African challenges, but also to provide home-grown innovations that will become competitive globally".

Founder of AIF, Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais also commended President Akufo-Addo for his commitment to transform the nation, saying "“Ghana has one of the most established National Innovative Systems (NIS) for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in the West Africa sub-region. During my recent meeting with H.E. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, he highlighted his commitment in transforming Ghana into a knowledge economy and the importance of ICT in achieving the country’s objective of diversified economic growth. Ghana’s corporate and business communities are also committed towards supporting efforts that raise the nation’s technology and innovation profile – and with good reason. By enabling entrepreneurs and innovators to test and scale new inventions and technologies, home grown business solutions can help the country build resilience and secure its future prosperity".

IPA 2017 promises to provide an unprecedented platform for African innovators and innovation enablers to network, share knowledge, explore business opportunities and boost collaboration.

Commenting on the IPA process and achievements, the IPA Director Ms. Pauline Mujawamariya Koelbl stated that “IPA has been growing stronger each year and not only the number of applicants continues to increase, but the quality of applications too. The IPA 2017 edition attracted more than 2530 respondents from 48 African countries; a strong indication of the creative potential that exists in Africa. Our goal is to unleash such potential. Our impact already speaks volume as we count approximately US$ 22 million investment value generated for IPA winners and nominees".


About African Innovation Foundation (AIF) and Innovation Prize For Africa (IPA)

AIF works to increase the prosperity of Africans by catalyzing the innovation spirit in Africa.

IPA is a landmark initiative of the AIF and its goal is to strengthen African innovation ecosystems through supporting a culture of innovation and competitiveness, whilst spurring growth of innovative, market-driven African solutions to African challenges.

IPA has been successfully celebrated in African major capitals representing African regions: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2012), Cape Town, South Africa (2013), Abuja, Nigeria (2014), Skhirat, Morocco (2015) and more recently in Gaborone, Botswana (2016).

Organizations that are keen to support IPA 2017 by way of sponsorship and other means of collaboration are invited to contact AIF and they may include key stakeholders from the public and private sector, including local and multi-national companies, investment companies, Banks, institutional organizations, civil society organizations, innovation hubs and academic institutions.