About the competition
The MED'INNOVANT AFRICA competition, organised by Euroméditerranée, singles out and rewards project sponsors (start-ups, micro businesses, SMEs) developing the best innovation solutions for the Mediterranean and African sustainable city with prizes and support.
The competition also has the backing of industrial partners that support Euroméditerranée in its open innovation strategy and are looking to to team up with innovative enterprises.
What are the themes?
- Energy
- Environment
- Health
- Housing
- Mobility
- Digital
- Smart objects
- Security
- Social economy
Driving more resilient and sustainable regions:
- Social innovation and solidarity mechanisms in the city;
- Design solutions for assuring continuity of public utilities (energy, water, waste management, etc.);
- in the event of a crisis, and to reduce the city’s environmental impact;
- Systems that facilitate urban management and mobility, and cost efficiency.
Improving response capacity:
- Modular and adaptable urban services or facilities;
- Early warning and response mechanisms and applications;
- Solutions or facilities promoting the coordination and interaction of multiple actors.
Facilitating crisis communication at the local level:
- Services or facilities that contribute to improving information in public spaces, safe communities, and the security of people and property;
- Contactless technologies, smart objects, mobile apps, etc.
What are the selection criteria?
- Application: a submission package that is complete, coherent, and easy to understand by a person external to the project.
- Development status of solution: the product has moved beyond the ideation phase and presents developments in a significant environment or, at the minimum, a working prototype.
- Business model: a coherent and realistic business model has been formulated with initial signs of income/results.
- Team: the project has teams with the relevant skills and capacity to lead the project.
- Regional dimension: the solution must have genuine deployment potential in the Euroméditerranée EcoCité area and more widely within Aix-Marseille Provence Metropolis*.
- Social and resilient innovation: the solution must be innovative, have a social and/or environmental impact, and contribute to regional resilience.
*Projects with high potential may also receive support outside the scope of intervention stated by the partners associated with the competition (France, African continent, etc.)
When is the period for applications?
- The call for applications is open continuously from 08:00 (UTC+1) 1 July to 23:59 (UTC+1) 31 August 2020.
- Applicants can submit their entry via the Enter tab.
Confidentiality
The documents sent during the competition are subject to the strictest confidentiality and will only be communicated to the selection committee members. The information will only be used to allow the application of the project leader to be judged.
What are the benefits for winners?
The winners will receive a tailored welcome pack.
Two awards will be allocated: a Jury’s Award and a Jury’s Favourite Award accompanied by the following respective benefits:
Prizes attached to the Jury’s Award
€7,000 FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, a real cash boost
BUSINESS TOUR:
- One-week Business Tour in Marseille to meet the organiser of the Euroméditerranée competition, take part in the EMERGING Valley summit, and attend the Social & Inclusive Business Camp** (SIBC);
- A personal tour of the Euroméditerranée catchment area with a representative of the development agency to access the potential scope of application for the award-winning innovation.
TWO-DAY EMERGING VALLEY PASS:
- Full two-day access to the Europe-Med-Africa emerging tech summit: 1,350 participants, 45 countries, 50+ high-impact investors, 140 start-ups, 130 speakers and 50 tech hubs in 2019!
- A 5-minute pitch at the MED’INNOVANT AFRICA Award ceremony taking place during the 4th edition of EMERGING VALLEY on 7 and 8 December in Marseille
ACCELERATION PACKAGE:
- A testing ground for trying out and demonstrating the innovative resilience solution: the Euroméditerranée EcoCité (480 hectares within the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 14th and 15th arrondissements of Marseille);
- A two-hour working session with Euroméditerranée’s CEO to determine the terms and conditions for implementing the award-winning solution within the Euroméditerranée EcoCité’s catchment area;
- 4 weeks of soft landing within Accélérateur.M based in the CISAM (Innovation & Knowledge Centre of Aix-Marseille);
- Finalists entered into the SIBC acceleration programme: a high-added-value business camp developed by the AFD. A €1,000-grant will also be awarded by the AFD to the winner of the Jury's Award only;
- Free legal and oral support as part of its territorial anchoring (sponsorship, monitoring committee) for a total duration of 4 hours usable over a period of 12 months from the date of the award ceremony in the fields following legal: French intellectual property and information technology law and French customs law and,
- Putting the winner in touch with a lawyer based in his country of location (only if FIDAL has concluded a cooperation agreement with a law firm in the country in which the winner is located).
NETWORK PUSH & PROMOTION
- AFRICALINK sponsorship: introduction to a business leader in the network, based in the winner’s home country and working in a similar sector;
- One year’s free membership to the AFRICALINK network;
- Mentoring: introduction by the CCI AMP to an elected CCI official in the winner’s home country to provide assistance developing the winning solution;
- A business meeting with the regional development agency Provence Promotion;
- Promotion: communication campaign in the press, on socials, on the website and at trade fairs;
- A video interview with the winner presenting their innovation posted on the Euroméditerranée YouTube channel.
Prizes attached to the Jury’s Favourite Award
€ 2,500 FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, a real cash boost
BUSINESS TOUR:
- One-week Business Tour in Marseille to meet the organiser of the Euroméditerranée competition, take part in the EMERGING Valley summit, and attend the Social & Inclusive Business Camp** (SIBC).
TWO-DAY EMERGING VALLEY PASS:
- Full two-day access to the Europe-Med-Africa emerging tech summit: 1,350 participants, 45 countries, 50+ high-impact investors, 140 start-ups, 130 speakers and 50 tech hubs in 2019!
- A 5-minute pitch at the MED’INNOVANT AFRICA Award ceremony taking place during the 4th edition of EMERGING VALLEY on 7 and 8 December in Marseille.
SUPPORT PACKAGE:
- A 1-hour meeting with the CEO of Euroméditerranée to see how the award-winning solution can be best adapted to the Euroméditerranée EcoCité development area (480 hectares within the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 14th and 15th arrondissements of Marseille);
- 4 weeks of soft landing within Accélérateur.M based in the CISAM (Innovation & Knowledge Centre of Aix-Marseille);
- Finalists entered into the SIBC acceleration programme: a high-added-value business camp developed by the AFD. A €1,000-grant will also be awarded by the AFD to the winner of the Jury's Favourite Award only;
- Legal support from law firm Fidal: two hours of training on intellectual property and information technology law, distribution rights and company law.
NETWORK PUSH & PROMOTION:
- AFRICALINK sponsorship : introduction to a business leader in the network, based in the winner’s home country and working in a similar sector;
- One year’s free membership to the AFRICALINK network;
- Mentoring : introduction by the CCI AMP to an elected CCI official in the winner’s home country to provide assistance developing the winning solution;
- Promotion : communication campaign in the press, on socials, on the website and at trade fairs;
- A video interview with the winner presenting their innovation posted on the Euroméditerranée YouTube channel.
Winners
On Thursday, 5 December, the winners of MED’INNOVANT AFRICA 2019 – the innovative solutions competition for Mediterranean and African sustainable cities – received their awards. The ceremony was organised by the Euroméditerranée Urban Development Agency for the occasion of the Emerging Valley summit dedicated to African companies taking place in Aix-en-Provence.
Following an assessment of 129 applications and interviews of the five finalists by the jury, the start-up SEN OR’DUR was rewarded for its innovative solution. The start-up wins €5,000 of funding and is given the opportunity to test out its innovation within Euroméditerranée’s 480-hectare ÉcoCité-certified site. It will also receive support from the local entrepreneurship ecosystem.
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“SEN OR’DUR is a completely new innovation in Senegal which can be used to solve the problem of plastic waste by updating the plastic bottle collection system with the installation of collecting machines.”
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The jury also rewarded the start-up PROMAGRIC with the “Jury’s Favourite” Award.
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“The CLINICPLANT application can be used by farmers to rapidly diagnose crop diseases and instantly obtain the appropriate biological treatments based on a simple photograph of the plant. It uses leading-edge artificial intelligence technology for high quality image recognition, and provides farmers with good prevention practices.”
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Discover all our winners and finalists:
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“Med’Innovant is an incredible competition. You are pitted against other innovative entrepreneurs and appraised by a jury composed of professionals working in the ‘sustainable city’ industry. Winning this competition was a huge privilege for us and we’ve benefited in so many ways. Today, although it is based in Chad, Kouran Jabo is earning a growing reputation in Aix-Marseille-Provence’s entrepreneurship ecosystem boosted by the media coverage MED’INNOVANT attracts.”
Ali Mbodou Youssouf, Founder and CEO of KOURAN JABO, MED’INNOVANT 2018 Jury's Favourite Award |
Jury 2020
🏆128 innovateurs africains candidats ➡️ 5 finalistes
— Euroméditerranée (@Euromed_MRS) December 10, 2019
Revivez leur passage devant le jury du concours #MedInnovantAfrica à @thecampProvence.@emergingvalley @StartupBRICS @AFD_France @SENOrDur @promagric @SemeCity pic.twitter.com/gAfpqKxvMc
Hugues PARANT – CEO Euroméditerranée
Samir ABDELKRIM – Author of Startup Lions, entrepreneur, columnist for Le Monde, founder of StartupBRICS & EMERGING Valley
Yves Delafon, President – AFRICAlink, the Community of Entrpreneurs in Africa and Europe
Isadora BIGOURDAN, team leader, facilitator & mentor - Inclusive Business & Social Innovation – Agence Française de Développement
Franck ARAUJO, Director - Accélérateur.M
Frédéric RONAL, Vice-President International Development & Cooperation - CCI Aix-Marseille Provence
Cyril CHAUVIN, Manager of the Intellectual property/Technologies & IT cluster / Mediterranean regional director - Fidal law firm
About
Euroméditerranée, a test ground for African start-ups developing innovative solutions for the SMART CITY.
For the Euroméditerranée Urban Development Agency, innovation has always been in its DNA thanks to its R&D into thalassothermic loops, development of a platform for processing and recycling polluted soils, and building the mixed-use city of today while imagining the hybrid city of the future.
Africa is now a major emerging market. Technological innovation is growing at an exponential rate, stimulating both new uses and new start-ups.
This is why in 2018, urban development agency Euroméditerranée launched a competition aimed at international entrepreneurs, targeting Africa more specifically in 2019, due to the historic links between Africa and Aix-Marseille Provence Metropolis. More successful each year in terms of quality and quantity, MED’INNOVANT AFRICA has received over 180 submissions from all over the African continent. Three awards were given to inspiring and talented start-ups based in Chad, Senegal and Cameroon.
| MED’INNOVANT AFRICA, a unique forum to connect African tech leaders with the regional ecosystem of Aix-Marseille Hugues Parant, CEO Euroméditerranée |
Having witnessed the incredible efforts made by African tech in the fight against Covid-19 and to participate in the collective response, Euroméditerranée this year wanted to focus the MED’INNOCANT AFRICA competition on regional resilience.
Faced with economic and environmental crises and challenges, collaborating to come up with resilience innovations and sustainable solutions is even more important to meet the planning and development goals of a region that has the capacity to withstand the impact.
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“SEN OR’DUR is a completely new innovation in Senegal which can be used to solve the problem of plastic waste by updating the plastic bottle collection system with the installation of collecting machines.” Ababacar Thiam, President of Sen’Or Dur, 2019 winner. |
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“The CLINICPLANT application can be used by farmers to rapidly diagnose crop diseases and instantly obtain the appropriate biological treatments based on a simple photograph of the plant. It uses leading-edge artificial intelligence technology for high quality image recognition, and provides farmers with good prevention practices.” Pyrrus Oreste Kouoplong, President of Promagric, Med'Innovant 2019 Jury’s Favourite award. |
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“Med’Innovant is an incredible competition. You are pitted against other innovative entrepreneurs and appraised by a jury composed of professionals working in the ‘sustainable city’ industry. Winning this competition was a huge privilege for us and we’ve benefited in so many ways. Today, although it is based in Chad, Kouran Jabo is earning a growing reputation in Aix-Marseille-Provence’s entrepreneurship ecosystem boosted by the media coverage MED’INNOVANT attracts.” Ali Mbodou Youssouf, Founder and CEO of KOURAN JABO, Jury's African Favourite Award 2018. |
The purpose of this innovation competition is to identify, promote and accelerate to the next level project developers (start-ups, small and medium enterprises) looking to bring to market innovations (solutions and services) that are in line with the new objectives of the Mediterranean and African sustainable and resilient city with the potential of deploying them in the catchment area of Euroméditerranée and more broadly of Aix-Marseille Provence Metropolis.
The aims of MED’INNOVANT AFRICA are:
- To unearth exciting African innovators with the capacity to test out their innovative solutions, where possible, in the Euroméditerranée EcoCité;
- To set up these start-ups in the developer’s catchment area in view of increasing their market share in Europe;
- To attract micro-businesses, SMEs and European groups looking to develop their business in Africa.
This competition also relies on the support of private and public actors who share our values to promote the deployment of resilience innovations across the Euroméditerranée EcoCité:
Official partners
MED’INNOVANT AFRICA, an accelerator for innovative solutions promoting resilient sustainable cities
Having witnessed the incredible efforts made by African tech in the fight against Covid-19 and to participate in the collective response, Euroméditerranée is committed to joining the movement, alongside partners associated with the competition, by sourcing innovations for tomorrow’s city.
Euroméditerranée has many strengths to promote, above all as “a unique testing ground for urban innovation in France and experimenting with market approaches that represent business opportunities for your organisation.”
How can you benefit from supporting the MED'INNOVANT AFRICA 2020 competition?
- Stand out as a local actor in contact with African tech leaders
- Grow your network and develop your expertise on the urban and sustainable planning and development goals for Mediterranean and African cities
- Contribute to the attractiveness of the region and its "innovation” ecosystem
- Join a community of operational partners who are working together to accelerate the development of resilience innovations in the Euroméditerranée catchment area and more broadly the Aix-Marseille Metropolis and the African continent
- Sit on the jury to pre-select 4-5 finalists and choose the 2 winners
Premium media exposure
- A dedicated website euromediterranee.fr/medinnovantafrica.
- Media advertising in the economic and specialist press (La Tribune Afrique and other titles).
- Press relations.
- Communication plan rolled out on social media.
- Cérémonie des MED’INNOVANT AFRICA Awards ceremony during the EMERGING Valley international summit.
Join us and get involved at an operational level with the African innovators of tomorrow! dominique.brunet@euromediterranee.fr
Emerging Valley
Established in Aix-Marseille in 2017, EMERGING Valley, the new hub for emerging innovations between Europe and Africa, is the international summit which attracts African and emerging investors, start-ups and digital ecosystems to Provence looking to raise their profile internationally, develop business relations and boost their global impact.
EMERGING Valley is a fantastic event to explore emerging ecosystems and connect the world with the leaders of African tech.
| “Emerging Valley is an initiative set up following a four-year tour of Africa. Its aim is to connect the ecosystems of metropolitan France and other European countries with their African counterparts. The Mediterranean port of Marseille can be that bridge between Europe and Africa, promoting reverse innovation and creating a digital community with a human face that offers an alternative to Silicon Valley and its digital giants.” |
Visit the Emerging Valley website
AFD
A public financial institution geared towards sustainable development, AFD is the central agency overseeing France’s development policy. The agency is involved in projects which bring tangible support to populations every day in developing and emerging countries, and Overseas France. Working in multiple sectors (energy, health, biodiversity, water, digital, education), the AFD is leading the transition to a world that is more secure, fair and sustainable, a world shared by everybody. Its action fully dovetails with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Our teams are involved in over 4,000 projects with a strong social and environmental impact in Overseas France and 115 countries. In 2018, the AFD earmarked 11.4 billion euros for funding these projects.
Visit the AFD website.
| “The ADF Group is firmly committed to supporting business leaders making a positive social impact in Africa. Primarily thanks to its Choose Africa initiative, the group will be investing 2.5 billion euros to support African entrepreneurs between now and 2022. In total, almost 10,000 small and medium enterprises will benefit from this initiative. In addition, the group organises programmes designed to structure and accelerate the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa, like the Social & Inclusive Business Camp happening in Marseille in early December, after four months of distance coaching, which the winners of Med’Innovant Africa 2019 will be attending.” |
AFRICAlink
AFRICAlink is a community of European and African entrepreneurs (120 members to date) set up by CCIMP with support from the Metropolis. Its purpose is to encourage the development of partnerships and business links in both directions between Europe and Africa. The idea is to "grow wealth together", economically, culturally and socially.
| “Yves Delafon has been doing business in Africa for over 20 years. A banker, he sits on the board of directors of Mauritania-based banking group BCI (Banque pour le Commerce et l’Industrie), which has branches throughout Francophone Africa. In December 2017, Yves was appointed chairman of Africalink, driving its development on both sides of the Mediterranean. He, too, is convinced it is time we switched to ‘business mode’ in our approach to the continent.” |
Visit the AFRICAlink website.
Accélérateur.M
Based at the CITAM (Innovation & Knowledge Centre of Aix-Marseille), Accélérateur M has two key missions: physically represent a Euroméditerranéenne Metropolis that is a leader in innovation, and be a public service to support start-ups from all over the world to facilitate their local and international development. The accelerator for start-ups and innovative enterprises has excellent access to the vital forces, talent and resources of the entire metropolitan ecosystem. Over 300-sq.m premises, the centre offers start-ups and larger organisations a full range of services to help them along their journey, all working closely with the academic and economic actors on their doorstep. Accélérateur.M provides accelerated start-ups with a tailored assistance programme through a combination of expertise, coaching, mentoring, testing, networking and other services. It also offers a fast-track à la carte service to help enterprises conquer new markets, fund growth or recruit talents. A forum for exchange and partnerships promoting collaboration with African and Mediterranean peers, Acccélérateur.M also provides start-ups with international ambitions hosting and sign-posting services within the metropolitan ecosystem.
Visit Accélérateur.M’s Twitter and Linkedin profiles.
| The oldest Chamber of Commerce in the world, established in 1599, is also the leading accelerator for 105,000 companies in the Aix-Marseille Provence region. Today’s economic, institutional and societal transformations are profound. Too often experienced passively, they should be seen as opportunities that CCIMP helps businesses embrace by providing support, from creation to sale. Internationally, CCIMP is confident that the Aix-Marseille Provence territory can become an essential hub for economic relations with Africa. |
CCIMP
The oldest Chamber of Commerce in the world, established in 1599, is also the leading accelerator for 105,000 companies in the Aix-Marseille Provence region. Today’s economic, institutional and societal transformations are profound. Too often experienced passively, they should be seen as opportunities that CCIMP helps businesses embrace by providing support, from creation to sale. Internationally, CCIMP is confident that the Aix-Marseille Provence territory can become an essential hub for economic relations with Africa.
| “Frédéric Ronal is vice-chairman of the CCIMP, responsible for its outward-looking trade policy. Convinced that African-European business relations are crucial to the economic future of our region, he has allowed the CCIMP to take some bold steps, including setting up Africalink and launching plans for an ‘Africa House’ in Marseille. Frédéric is also a number-cruncher, being a banking executive (Arkéa Banque) as well as chairman of the Regional Banking Committee.” |
Visit the Marseilles Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry website.
FIDAL
Fidal legal practice has put in place an offering of legal and tax services dedicated to the boldest, most talented start-ups, giving them the opportunity to take advantage of its expertise in the field of intellectual property strategy as well as comprehensive legal and tax expertise, particularly with regard to investment capital.
Visit the Fidal’s website.
| “Fidal law firm offers stellar advice to the most daring and talented start-ups which gives them access to the breadth of Fidal Tech’s technical expertise in Marseille. This team offers an innovative approach and technical performance that you’d expect from one of the top legal practices in digital intellectual property and technology, investment capital, and global legal and tax strategy.” |
Contact & Press
Euroméditerranée Urban Development Agency
Dominique Brunet Marketing, Economic Communication and Employment Project Manager
Tel.: +33(0) 491 144 504
E-mail: dominique.brunet@euromediterranee.fr.
Press review
Press packs and releases:
2019 edition
Photo & videos
Photo gallery 2019
2019 edition videos
Best of 2019 edition
2019 plenary
Jury at thecamp
Apply
With MED'INNOVANT AFRICA, increase your market share in Europe by setting up in the second-largest metropolis in France: Aix-Marseille Provence.
Faced with economic and environmental crises and challenges, collaborating to come up with resilience innovations and sustainable solutions is even more important to meet the planning and development goals of a region that has the capacity to withstand the impact.
Created by the Euroméditerranée Urban Development Agency, MED'INNOVANT AFRICA is an innovative solutions competition for the future city that contributes to accelerating African start-up projects offering solutions for tackling the development of resilient and sustainable Mediterranean and African cities.
It has several aims:
- To unearth exciting African innovators with the capacity to test out their innovative solutions, where possible, in the Euroméditerranée EcoCité;
- To set up these start-ups in the developer’s catchment area in view of increasing their market share in Europe;
- To attract micro-businesses, SMEs and European groups looking to develop their business in Africa.
Africa is now a major emerging market. Technological innovation is growing at an exponential rate, stimulating both new practices and new start-ups.
The competition is reserved for legal persons (start-ups, SMEs) with a head office in Africa and legal persons (start-ups, SMEs) incubated in France but with a head office in Africa.
Key dates
The call for applications is open continuously from 08:00 on 1 July to 23:59 (UTC+1) on 31 August 2020
1 JUIL 2020: Call for applications opens at 08:00 UTC+1
31 AUGUST 2020: Call for applications closes at 23:59 UTC+1
Four-phase selection process:
1 to 18 SEPT: 2020: Pre-selection of 15-20 applications
22 to 24 SEPT: 2020: Shortlisting of 4-5 finalists
Successful candidates will receive an email by 25 September 2020 at the latest inviting them to take part in the 3rd edition of the EMERGING VALLEY international summit taking place on 7 and 8 December 2020 in Marseille at the Palais du Pharo to be attended by African tech leaders, investors, and African and global innovation experts. The finalists will deliver their PITCHES and the winners will receive their awards at the summit.
| EMERGING Valley is a fantastic event to explore emerging ecosystems and connect you with the leaders of African tech. |
7-8 DEC. 2020: finalists interviewed by the jury.
Prizes awarded to the two finalists (public ceremony)
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The competition organiser shall cover the cost of transport and two nights in a hotel for finalists (refer to competition rules). |
Social Wall
Social Wall Med'Innovant Africa par Euromed_MRS