Ghana Hosts Innovation Prize For Africa

Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais in a hand shake with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

The African Innovation Foundation (AIF), in collaboration with the Government of Ghana, will host the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA), a renowned event in Accra in July 2017.

The country was selected to host the event because of its commitment to consolidating a thriving national innovation ecosystem.

The country, in recent years, has become a noted sub regional hub for innovation.

As it celebrates its 6th milestone with the theme, 'African Innovation: Investing in 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 selection, Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, Founder, African Innovation Foundation said, “Ghana has one of the most established National Innovative Systems (NIS) for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in the West Africa sub-region.

Ghana's corporate and business communities are also committed to supporting efforts that raise the nation's technology and innovation profile – and with good reason,” he said.

Commenting on the IPA process and achievements, the IPA Director 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 2,530 respondents from 48 African countries which indicate 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,” she explained.

IPA has been endorsed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who will deliver the keynote address during the awards ceremony.

Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), said Ghana is open for business and has young talents that are already being used profitably.

“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,” he said.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri