Business Case:

 

In April 2022, EITI was selected by WHO ARFO to design and implement the 2022 African Innovation Challenge with the goal of identifying promising health innovations that can be scaled through investment and integration into relevant manufacturing value-chains.

 

The Innovation Challenge is focused exclusively on R&D taking place in Africa and conducted by African researchers with the goal of creating more visibility for African research, especially health research, and ensuring equitable representation of African scientific products in the global arena.

 

EITI role in the Innovation Challenge is to create an ecosystem that will effectively engage African scientific community through a comprehensive and thorough outreach campaign relying on both mass media and professional scientific networks. At the center of the ecosystem will be a digital platform through which WHO AFRO with the support from EITI will launch a conversation about health-sector innovations in Africa, receive proposals for evaluation, engage experts in assessing the potential of submitted innovations, showcase important developments in health science in Africa, and recognize and support innovative product offerings.

Our Approach:

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1. The WHO AFRO Innovation Challenge Team will run the Innovation challenge as per the following phases:
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Phase I: WHO AFRO Innovation Challenge Conceptualization

Phase II: Innovation Challenge Campaign

Phase III: Management of Evaluation Entries Using a Digital Platform

Phase IV: Coordination of Evaluation Entries

Phase V: Project Closure

Outcomes: 

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2. This project will have two main outputs:

• • • A communication campaign delivered through a combination of analogue and digital media channels. 

  • • A digital platform designed to host best practices, recognized innovations, and pan-African discussions on the health needs of the African populations and local solutions to address them.

3. Additional outputs of the Innovation Challenge would we the elements of the Challenge design that WHO AFRO would be able to use going forward.