Registrations are open for African Innovation Summit (AIS). It’s the second iteration of a popular meeting that invites well-known African stakeholders. They get together to find disruptive and creative solutions to challenges pertaining to the social and economical issues of the continent. This year, the African Innovation Summit will be held at Kigali, Rwanda between June 6 and June 8. You can register to the summit here.

AIS is somewhat like Angola-based Quantum Global Group’s Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA). While IPA looks for a winning revolutionary idea and funds it, AIS discusses tried and tested methods including ingenious concepts that have not been put into practice. The participants of African Innovation Summit include:

• Head of states and governments
• Ministers, high-level government officials and policy makers
• Leaders of regional and continental associations
• Business tycoons and CEOs of reputed companies
• Researchers, scientists and academicians
• Entrepreneurs and consultants

Bulk of the issues revolves around energy, food, water, and health. The summit presses on modernization and relying on indigenous production to solve problems. The environment of development is pushing all the African states to adapt to the new wave of cutting-edge designs and developmental schemes.

Take Angola for example. The central African country is brimming with entrepreneurs who can bring a positive change. The learning hub Fábrica de Sabão was a result of entrepreneur Jean Claude Bastos de Morais’ (Chairman of Quantum Global Group) initiative. It radically transformed an old soap factory into a center for engineers, researchers, scientists, and entrepreneurs to test drive their ideas.

It’s the same with Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH), located in Gaborone. It is a science and technology park that houses the world’s leading tech-driven and knowledge-based organizations. BIH provides a special membership that includes business support services, strategic partnership collaborations, technology entrepreneurship development, and more.

Co-Director of AIS, Dr Olugbenga Adesida explains, “AIS provides more than a robust and dynamic platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue.” He adds, “ It a catalyst for ‘Made in Africa’ innovations that are already addressing the challenges faced on the continent, but need assistance to take root and scale across the continent.”

AIS is partnering up with Enterpriseroom, a transformation consultancy that specializes in enterprise, supplier, and social development. The organization will help select 50 ideas across Africa that can be sourced and put into action.

Tracey Webster, the CEO of Enterpriseroom said that they were delighted to partner up with AIS to showcase innovation. She explicates, “They (the ideas) will have a unique opportunity to engage the right stakeholders when it comes to discussing and unlocking blockages in the eco-system that are preventing solutions from going to scale, or ideas being commercialized.”

It’s a unique opportunity that should not be missed by African innovators who wish to see their country grow in all aspects. To know more about the summit, you can visit their website here.