Seven Southern Africans in Innovating Justice Challenge in semi-finals
Seven entrepreneurs and innovators from South Africa and Zimbabwe have been selected to take part in the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) regional semi-finals of its annual Innovating Justice Challenge, which will take place at Open Maboneng in Johannesburg on 13 October 2017.
The 2017 Innovating Justice Challenge saw 601 innovations submitted from 65 different countries, including 80 from the Southern Africa region.
Successful finalists will have access to up to 20,000 EUR in equity-free grant money and earn a place in the six month HiiL Justice Accelerator, a unique business development programme, which specialises in growing startups focussed on sustainable solutions to justice and legal problems.
“The number and quality of entries that HiiL received this year shows that the justice sector is ripe for disruption, with hundreds of like-minded innovators all thinking about how new technology and ideas can improve access to justice for all,” says head of the Justice Accelerator, Wilfried de Wever. “We’ve seen that every aspect of the law and its implementation is being challenged. In every country in which we operate, people are finding novel ways to improve justice systems. The challenge for HiiL is now is to look at how we can support ever more innovators globally in their work.”
Public invited to Boostcamp
This year’s semi-finalists will present their ideas to a panel of local legal and innovation experts, and international representatives from HiiL at the Boostcamp.
As well as the semi-final pitching session, the Innovating Justice Boostcamp will also feature keynote addresses, panel discussions and interactive working sessions that will serve to bring together the different worlds of entrepreneurs, investors, civil society, justice professionals and academia.
The Boostcamp is a unique opportunity to talk and think about new ways to address key justice pain points such as crime and law enforcement, migration and human trafficking, land and property rights, family justice, neighbour disputes, and employment justice. HiiL will also present from its own research based on large-scale international studies carried out over 12 years.
Members of the public are encouraged to sign up to attend the Boostcamp at https://boostcampjohannesburg2017.eventbrite.co.uk/.
