AFRI CONVERSE 2024 #3 Open Innovation: Sparking Industrial Drive with Young Entrepreneurs by Multi-disciplinary Research

Since June 2018, JICA and UNDP have co-hosted AFRI CONVERSE, an interactive event on the theme of African development with TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development). For the 19th time in total, together with Nagaoka University of Technology, we will host an interactive event where experts and youth innovators will discuss African development issues in a panel format.

Event Details

Title:
AFRI CONVERSE 2024 #3
Open Innovation: Sparking Industrial Drive with Young Entrepreneurs by Multi-disciplinary Research

Date and Time:
August 20, 2024
18:00-19:30 (JST)
12:00-13:30 (EAT)

Venue:
Hybrid – Online via Zoom and at Miraie Step, Miraie Nagaoka, 2-3-10 Ote-dori, Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, Kome Hyappyo Place Miraie Nagaoka

Languages:
Japanese, English and French
(Simultaneous interpretation available)

Co-organizer:
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Nagaoka University of Technology

Admission: Free

Registration:
IN-PERSON <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScs0WWjcXDIyFcPEF9BTk5asSMQctsofpQMWZO77nilYXrKkw/viewform?usp=sf_link>
ONLINE
<https://undp.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Q8vIbPksRwGpxQokeZgLbw>

Program:
18:00 – 18:02 Introduction
18:02 – 18:05 Opening Remarks
18:05 – 18:08 Welcoming Remarks
19:08 – 19:23 Setting the Scene
18:23 – 19:27 Panel Discussion
19:27 – 19:30 Closing

Speakers ：　

• Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant Secretary General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa, UNDP
• Toshihyuki Nakamura, Special Advisor to JICA President, JICA
• Kenji Kato, Specially Appointed Professor, Nagaoka University of Technology, and Senior Director General at the CEO Office, Daido Kogyo Co., Ltd.
• Samantha Stodel, Project Manager, Thinkroom (South Africa)
• Hiroyuki Saito, Graduate School Student at the Nagaoka University of Technology
• Sally Mwayi Changaya, Biomedical Engineering Student at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS)

Moderator:

• Shuhei Ueno, Deputy Director General, Africa Department, JICA
  
  

Background of event
It is often pointed out that Africa is home to plenty of natural resources; however, one of the most critical drivers for the continent's future development will be its human capital. By 2050, the population of Africa is expected to reach approximately 2.5 billion, accounting for a quarter of the world's population, with an average age of 25. Today, the importance of this youthful demographic is greater than ever before. A pivotal case in point is the need to foster and capitalize on the potential of youth, which is emphasized as one of the seven aspirations in "Agenda 2063". The necessity of incorporating youth from Africa and Japan into this process to co-create sustainable future was recognized at the 30th Anniversary of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) and will be centralized at the TICAD Ministerial Meeting to be organized in August 2024.

In pursuit of nurturing youth innovators and embracing their entrepreneur journey, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently launched the University Innovation Pods (UniPod), as part of "timbuktoo”, a pan-African start-up ecosystem building initiative. The UniPod, established in 13 African countries, aims to encourage partnering university students to engage in innovation and design thinking and to support scalable and impactful entrepreneurship among African youth, leveraging a network of partners. For instance, Sally Mwayi Changaya and Sonia Kachale are pioneering innovators from Malawi. Sally, a fifth-year Biomedical Engineering student at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, developed the Flow Assist Intravenous (IV) drip monitor and controller. This device is designed to improve healthcare delivery in low-resource settings by ensuring accurate IV flow rates. It addresses the issues of manual adjustment and monitoring of gravity infusions, leading to serious health complications if the flow rate is inaccurate. Sally's innovation uses locally available materials, making it affordable and easy to maintain within the Malawian healthcare system. Through the support of the UniPod initiative, such innovations are transforming industrial drive and entrepreneurship across Africa.

In 2019, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), currently teaming up with Nagaoka University of Technology, embarked on providing technical college students in Japan with the opportunity to develop innovative solutions using their advanced technology and flexible thinking, known as the "KOSEN Open Innovation ". It engages technical college teams from across Japan and conducts field trials with African counterparts. The network between African and Japanese youth has emerged through this initiative. For instance, the student team from the National Institute of Technology, Nagaoka College, in collaboration with a Kenyan start-up company, created a prototype machine that efficiently enables waste management as well as distribution of livestock feed.

With attention to Multi-disciplinary Research, which seeks to solve problems from cross-disciplinary fields of knowledge, these initiatives have emerged to address commonly identified challenges which university and college students with Innovative business ideas to solve social issues with Multi-disciplinary Research face, such as ones attributed to low investment in R&D. In fact, R&D investment in Africa is only one-fourth of the global average, which has several implications; African entrepreneurs have limited access to cutting-edge technologies, new processes, and innovative products. This could hinder their ability to compete globally and even locally. For instance, due to the limited R&D funding, many talented researchers and innovators from African countries seek opportunities abroad, where funding and resources are more abundant. Africa faces this phenomenon known as brain drain, losing skilled professionals to more lucrative opportunities abroad, which hampers socio-economic development. The continent loses approximately US$2 billion annually due to this emigration, impacting research, innovation, and healthcare【※2】. Further, entrepreneurs heavily rely on a supportive ecosystem that includes access to funding for research, prototyping, and scaling up innovative ideas. Low R&D investment would indicate a lack of available funding or venture capital focused on high-risk, high-reward innovation projects.

Against this background, the aforementioned initiatives play a genuine role in fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and bridging the technological gap among the young generation, including university and college students, in Africa and Japan. Leading to TICAD9 to be hosted in Yokohama in August 2025, the session examines impact and lessons learnt from these pioneering initiatives and identify a way-forward through accelerated co-creation of innovative solutions between Africa and Japan, closing a gap between research, development, and product creation/proto-type development.

Contact:
Mai Tomori, Planning and TICAD Promotion Division, Africa Department, JICA (tomori.mai@jica.go.jp)
Takahiro Watari, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology (watari@vos.nagaokaut.ac.jp)