The Open Innovation Program

Challenge

There are still too few political framework conditions at national, pan-African and African-European level to support entrepreneurs to directly respond to the needs of the clients. To meet this challenge, digital innovations must be made applicable across borders. This is where we step in, with the Open Innovation Program (OIP).

Approach

The OIP’s problem-centric approach aims to bring together different actors in the innovation ecosystems – mainly through agile practices and the method of market feedback. To this end, with our partners, we support startups in making their innovations market-ready with customer and supplier feedback. We do this through a collaborative approach between startups, their key partners, suppliers, and clients, focusing on numerous market challenges and finding common solutions. The goal is to rollout the solutions and successfully scale them to the market. The OIP is tackling three main sectors – smart cities, agriculture, and education.

Goal

This way tech innovators have a better chance of establishing their innovations on the market and scaling them internationally. The approach is "the customer has the answers" – which can lead to more entrepreneurial knowledge and validated business models. By engaging with clients, suppliers, and other distribution channels and working in a problem-centric way, entrepreneurs can overcome acute problems concerning their clients’ needs and create marketable, scalable products and services.