Background
The AfriConEU was an ambitious initiative which brought together African and European Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) in a vibrant network of collaboration and knowledge exchange, fueled by a vision of building a joint EU and Africa digital innovation ecosystem.
Launched in 2021 with funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, the project was delivered by a consortium of partners across Europe and Africa including ATBN (UK), INOVA+ (Portugal), Emerging Communities Africa (Nigeria), Youthmakers Hub (Greece), Porto Business School (Portugal), OutBox (Uganda), Dpixel (Italy), Stimmuli (Greece), ITC (Slovenia) , Buni Hub (Tanzania) and HapaSpace (Ghana).
Project overview
The AfriConEU project set out to establish the first transcontinental Networking Academy for African and European DIHs with following two key objectives:
Enhance the capabilities of African DIHs by effectively addressing their unique needs and supporting them to secure their long-term sustainability through its flagship Capacity Building Programme.
Offer concrete opportunities for networking and exchange between EU and Africa DIHs and their communities through the Flagship Transcontinental Partnership Development Programme.
To achieve these objectives, a dynamic set of activities were carried out including research, capacity building and networking and knowledge sharing.
• Research:
ATBN played a pivotal role as the research lead for the project. We conducted six months of comprehensive research across four African countries and Europe, encompassing 60 interviews and 4 roundtables. Our findings informed all project activities and outputs. Read the full report.
• Training & education:
Based on the needs identified through our research, a comprehensive programme of webinars and masterclasses and innovation bootcamps was implemented to boost the capacities of DIHs and support the development of collaborative initiatives. A resource platform was developed to share best practices and learning tools.
• Networking & knowledge sharing:
Networking events including an international brokerage conference and final capitalisation event were hosted to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration. ATBN’s role involved sharing insights generated through blogs, presentations, reports, and academic papers as well as presenting our findings at key sector events including the Catalyst 2030 Annual Forum, the Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) and the GSG Impact Summit.
Our Impact
The project fostered a dynamic space for peer-to-peer learning, best practice sharing, and joint venture development.
• DIHs Capacity building:
Equipped hubs with the tools and knowledge to become more sustainable, self-sufficient, and gender-balanced.
• Community of Practice:
Developed a thriving community for knowledge sharing between experts and innovation ecosystem actors across the EU and Africa.
• Knowledge resources:
Developed a comprehensive toolkit and a blueprint that can be used for future projects.
Testimonials
“ATBN brought invaluable expertise and added significant value to the AfriConEU project. Their role in creating synergies was instrumental in fostering collaboration with similar initiatives and had a direct positive impact on the project’s visibility. Their research contributions provided crucial insights that not only shaped the project’s direction but also contributed to its heightened visibility in relevant sectors.” YouthMakers Hub – AfriConEU Consortium Partner
“The research skills, writing skills and clarity in communication were a big plus to the whole consortium. Truthfully, the whole project rode on the outputs of ATBN’s work. Even though that was ATBN’s assignment, they did not merely handle it as a task but carefully researched and presented the results in a way that made the objectives of other Work Packages clearer.” HapaSpace – AfriConEU Consortium Partner