Addressing Africa's challenges through innovation

As such, Ihaba and the Government of Rwanda have announced that the second Africa Innovation Summit (AIS II) will take place from 6 to 8 June 2018 at the Kigali Convention Centre in Kigali, Rwanda.

The AIS II will build on a very successful first Summit, and it will include activities before, during and after the Summit. The AIS seeks innovative and disruptive solutions for major challenges facing African countries, which include: energy access, water, food insecurity, and health systems.

AIS II will be a three-day event and the program will include a set of plenary sessions on major thematic issues, over 20 facilitated workshops in focused workgroups to deepen the dialogue and to seek solutions to challenges facing African countries, as well as many side events and special programs.

The Summit will also include Satellite events in three to five locations within the continent, an exhibition by 50 African SMEs and institutions with scalable innovative ideas, products and/or services, and a Youth Innovation Challenge. Leading up to the Summit, AIS will organise hackathons and blogs to mobilise practical popular engagement. Post-Summit, the AIS will work on a series of knowledge outputs, including policy briefs and book with case studies, as well as promote the implementation of the recommendations.

AIS is not another event but the continental platform aimed at building the ecosystem for innovation in Africa in order to ensure Africa’s structural transformation.

Transforming Africa

Ihaba is a business development organisation based in Cabo Verde with a mission of transforming Africa through incubating innovative ideas as well as actively engaging in building a conducive environment for innovation in Africa.

As noted by Jose Brito, managing partner, Ihaba, “We are excited about the AIS II and looking forward to engaging everyone through this partnership with the Government of Rwanda to find innovative and scalable solutions to the challenges facing the continent.”

Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Minister of Youth and ICT for Rwanda, stated that, “On behalf of the Government of Rwanda, we are delighted to welcome AIS delegates to Kigali for the continental event on innovation focused on finding answers to some of the perennial challenges facing our continent. This is in line with our national agenda to be at the forefront of finding creative solutions to our developmental challenges.

The government of Rwanda is committed to working with Ihaba to ensure that the event is successfully hosted in the country”.

Dr Olugbenga Adesida, director of AIS, indicated that the “AIS is not another event but the continental platform aimed at building the ecosystem for innovation in Africa in order to ensure Africa’s structural transformation.”