The Africa Prize is looking for engineers and entrepreneurs who have developed, or are in the process of developing, a new technological innovation. Applicants should have the ambition to take a leading role in creating a new business to commercialise this innovation. Innovations must aim to promote the welfare and economic development of a country or countries in sub–Saharan Africa and be designed to address a development need or specific challenge facing that country.
Entrepreneurs are invited to apply with innovations from any engineering discipline that can provide scalable solutions to local challenges.
Applicants should be in the early stages of commercialising an engineering innovation that:
- is accompanied by an ambitious but realistic business plan that has strong commercial viability
- has strong potential to be replicated and scaled up
- will bring social and/or environmental benefits to a country or countries in sub-Saharan Africa
- is based in, and will benefit, a country in sub-Saharan Africa.
The innovation can be any new product, technology or service, based on research in any field of engineering, including:
- Agricultural technology
- Biotechnology
- Chemical engineering
- Civil engineering
- Computer science
- Design engineering
- Electrical and electronic engineering
- Materials science
- Mechanical engineering
- Medical engineering.
If you have questions about whether your innovation would be considered as engineering, please contact the Africa Prize team to discuss your application at