The International Innovation Hub Opens to West Africa

The overall objective of the project, supported by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, is to structure a regional network of Innovative Entrepreneurship Support Structures (IESS) in Benin, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire, as a continuation of the IIH Montpellier, in order to support sustainable food systems and entrepreneurial innovation in West Africa. Specifically, the project aims to :

• Formalize the regional innovation ecosystem by strengthening ties between incubators, development structures, researchers, and entrepreneurs, and by creating a West African network integrated into the international IIH.
• Develop the capacities of SAEIs through their professionalization, the differentiation of support (incubators for entrepreneurs, development structures for knowledge transfer), and the creation of synergies between stakeholders.
• Support the operationalization of the Regional Hub by developing the IIH West Africa, organizing an Innovation Challenge, supporting youth and women’s entrepreneurship, and integrating innovations into public policies to ensure a lasting impact.
   

  

   
  Beneficiaries :
  The project targets a diverse range of stakeholders in the innovation and agroecology ecosystem in West Africa. The direct beneficiaries are :

• IESSs, through a capacity building and professionalization program (at least 10 IESSs per country).
• Entrepreneurs and project leaders, through technical support and assistance via the Innovation Challenge (45 start-ups, representing approximately 100 young women and men).
• Researchers and academic institutions, through their integration of collaborative dynamics into innovation and training on research promotion.
• Institutional stakeholders, who will benefit from consultation frameworks to integrate agroecological innovation into public policies. The final beneficiaries are young and women entrepreneurs, farmers, consumers, local communities, and investors, who will benefit from the economic, technological, and social spinoffs generated by the project.

Project partners :

• Agropolis International
• Faculty of Agricultural Sciences - University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin)
• National Polytechnic Institute Félix Houphouët-Boigny / Higher School of Agronomy (Côte d’Ivoire)
• University of Sine Saloum El-Hâdj Ibrahima NIASS (USSEIN) - Dekkal Yaakaar Incubator (Senegal)
• Gaston Berger University of St. Louis (Senegal)
• Afric’Innov (Senegal)
• Institut Agro de Montpellier
• CIRAD
• CGIAR
• IRD