The Youth Climate Innovation Lab— a collaboration between the UN Climate Technology Centre and Network, the Swiss Association for Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets (SAFEEM), and Seedstars— is inviting Young African innovators creating climate technology solutions to join a three-day launchpad where the best projects will be invited to a further Climate Innovation Academy programme to help build their start-ups.
Youth innovators, across Africa and the Middle East with the support of climate technology, entrepreneurship, and business experts, will explore design thinking tools to ideate and validate innovative solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation within selected sectors and technology fields. Entries will close on Sunday, 4 September 2022.
Supported by entrepreneurs, innovation facilitators and private sector experts, the participants will be challenged to think critically and co-create timely solutions and business ideas to address pressing challenges in climate change.
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The programme is expected to, among other things, help participants express their entrepreneurial skills and create business solutions for enhanced climate action in response to climate change threats to the MENA region.
Reacting to the call, Mohamad Fanous, Seedstars programme manager in Africa and the Middle East, said “With governments across the MENA region leapfrogging their nations towards oil-independent economies, it is time to equip our youth with the knowledge and tools to drive climate action initiatives,”.
He further explained that the programme will provide a hands-on learning space in which participants explore and implement frameworks for ideation and validation to solve common and critical problems in innovative, viable, and sustainable ways.
To be eligible for the programme, participants must meet the following criteria:
- Must be between the ages of 20 and 30 years old;
- Attended or completed higher education;
- Must be an aspiring or early-stage entrepreneur or a student interested in launching an idea on climate change and building entrepreneurial muscle; and,
- Must be passionate about solving climate technology needs and challenges in the Middle East or Africa.
Furthermore, Innovators must preferably focus on challenges in the following fields: renewable energy and hybrid energy systems; circularity and waste management; agritech and food tech; ecology and reforestation; transportation; and urban planning, smart cities, and construction.
The regional winners will participate in the six- to eight-week Climate Innovation Academy programme delivered by Seedstars at the end of the Climate Innovation Lab after which they will receive follow-on support to implement and scale their solutions.
Further details show that the top three teams will also receive a cash prize of $1 800 and the chance to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) happening in Egypt this November 2022.
Story was adapted from Ventureburn.
