The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) has officially launched the second edition of the ATU Africa Innovation Challenge. ATU made the announcement in a virtual ceremony hosted together with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). This year’s competition is themed, Best ecosystem practices in Africa enabling youth ICT innovation, and will run from 15th June to 28th September 2021.
Announcing the initiative, Secretary-General of the ATU, Mr. John Omo said, “This initiative will be instrumental in supporting institutional solutions that will boost innovation in Africa and address some of the challenges facing the African community. The ATU Africa Innovation Challenge is a program that seeks to provide both short and long-term solutions and opportunities to the African Youth.
The competition, sponsored by Huawei Technologies and Intel Corporation, is open to all ecosystem stakeholders. These include regulatory authorities, entrepreneurial support organizations, incubators, accelerators, or institutions such as colleges or universities from Africa.
African organizations and institutions that have created an enabling environment for youth ICT innovations to thrive are eligible to participate. The winning entity will be awarded Ksh. 1,078,000 ($10,000) aside from their practice gaining recognition as the best ecosystem practice in Africa enabling youth ICT innovation.
Honourable Dr. Peya Mushelenga, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Namibia, was the chief guest at the event. He applauded the two organizations for the initiative and acknowledged the significance of public-private partnerships in promoting development.
Last year, the inaugural ATU Africa Innovation Challenge recognized and awarded 11 finalists across Africa who had developed mobile applications benefiting Africa’s fight against COVID-19 and its effects. Egypt’s Mai Nagy topped the competition, followed by Mr. Abdinoor Yerrow from Kenya and Ms. Bequerelle Matemtsap Mbou from Cameroon. Other countries that made it to the top 11 were Zimbabwe, Senegal, Lesotho, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Benin, and Tanzania.
Mr. Samuel Chen, Vice President for Huawei Southern Africa Region highlighted the strong partnership with ATU and noted, “Huawei is committed to developing innovations that bring the benefits of technology to all alongside supporting and enabling innovation and digital ecosystem development in Africa by Africans through training and partnerships alongside infrastructure and digital services.”
Interested applicants are required to submit applications via the ATU website. Their projects should depict a unique practice that has created an enabling environment for youth ICT innovation to thrive together with success stories of two innovators that are beneficiaries of the practice. The practice must be an original idea/concept developed by the ecosystem stakeholder and must have been successfully implemented and running for at least one year. It can be in the form of a policy, an initiative, or a program.