Call for innovators

AfriAlliance is looking for social innovation companies in water and climate change who would like to contribute to our Innovation Bridge Event at the African Utility Week on 15 May 2019 at the CTICC in Cape Town. Join us for this great opportunity to pitch your innovation to a broad audience and to connect with potential collaborators, government, funders and investors.

AfriAlliance Innovation Bridge Events

The purpose of AfriAlliance Innovation Bridge Events (IBE) is to serve as a matching platform for universities, science councils and companies in water and Climate Change with potential collaborators, funders and investors to facilitate commercialisation, awareness and better uptake of their innovations. The event is organized to bring together the supply and the demand side of water innovation for productive exchanges of knowledge and technology.

The topic of the Innovation Bridge Events follows from the overarching theme of the AfriAlliance project which is to foster social innovation related to climate change and water. Social Innovation in AfriAlliance means tackling societal, water-related challenges arising from Climate Change by combining the technological & non-technological dimensions of innovation: 1) technology, 2) capacity development, 3) governance structures and 4) business road map. The AfriAlliance Innovation Bridge Events are specifically designed to facilitate the dialogue across organisational, sectoral and disciplinary boundaries in order to foster social innovation for water and climate.

Innovation pitches, demonstration and matchmaking

Are you a social innovation company working in water and climate change? Join AfriAlliance’s IBE at the African Utility Week to feature outputs and information from your projects in the program, reaching a broad range of participants. The program at the IBE will include a short session to pitch your innovations, followed by the opportunity to showcase and demonstrate your innovations and technology solutions in a one-to-one setting, aiming to serve as a matching platform with potential collaborators, funders and investors.

If you are interested in contributing to AfriAlliance’s Innovation Bridge Event at the African Utility Week, please contact us at afrialliance@un-ihe.org, providing us with the following information:

• Project name

• Name & organisation of presenter(s) from your project

• Solution description (Summary & website, if available)

• Required space & equipment to demonstrate your solution (e.g. table/beamer/etc.)

• Desired one-on-one interaction with specific stakeholders during the event (e.g. stakeholder type)

African Utility Week

Now in its 19th year,  African Utility Week is recognised as the leading conference and trade exhibition for African power, energy and water professionals. The conference and exhibition is attended by over 9 500 people; including utility CEOs, regulators, financiers and investors as well as technology companies. African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa share the latest ideas and technologies; challenges conventional ideas of power, energy and water; encourages new partnerships and promotes realistic solutions with the audience.

For more information regarding the African Utility week, please visit the AUW website.