About
About
Euroméditerranée, a testing ground for African start-ups developing innovative SMARTCITY solutions.
For EPA Euroméditerranée, innovation has always been a “marker”, thanks to its experimentation work in thalasso-thermal loops, developing a platform for processing and recycling polluted soils and producing the multifunctional mixed city of today by imagining the “hybrid city of the future.
To support its ambition, EPA Euroméditerranée has opened up to all innovative businesses showing an interest in the area covered by the "Euroméditerranée" operation. More than seven years ago, it thus created MED’INNOVANT, a competition for innovative solutions addressing the challenges of sustainable urban development.
| MED’INNOVANT AFRICA, a unique event to connect African tech leaders with the Aix-Marseille ecosystem Hugues Parant, CEO of Euroméditerranée |
The aim of this major innovation event is to identify, promote and accelerate the projects of start-ups and small/medium-sized businesses wishing to develop innovative solutions or services that address sustainable city challenges in the Mediterranean and Africa regions, and can be implemented in the area covered by Euroméditerranée's operations.
In 2018, EPA Euroméditerranée opened up the competition to international entrepreneurs, particularly looking toward Africa, which has historical ties with the Aix-Marseille metropolis. Over fifty applications from African entrepreneurs were examined and a Chad start-up was selected as the Jury's Favourite.
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FOCUS: KOURAN JABO, the Jury's Favourite African Start-up - MED’INNOVANT 2018 For Founder and CEO Ali Mbodou Youssouf, « Med’Innovant is an exceptional competition. It puts you in competition with innovative entrepreneurs in front of a jury composed of sustainable city professionals. For us, winning this competition has been a privilege, with numerous spinoffs. While based in Chad, Kouran Jabogagne is now becoming known in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Aix-Marseille Provence metropolis thanks to the media coverage of Med’Innovant. » |
MED’INNOVANT AFRICA, a springboard to promote African entrepreneurship
Convinced by innovators' appetite for sustainable smart city technologies, this year, EPA Euroméditerranée decided to launch a competition called MED’INNOVANT reserved for African innovators and turn Euroméditerranée into an urban test lab between Europe and Africa.
The aim of MED’INNOVANT AFRICA is to:
- Identify African businesses capable of testing out their innovative solutions in the Ecocité Euroméditerranée district of Marseille,
- Get these businesses to set up premises in the developer's area of operation in the aim of growing their European market share, and
- Attract businesses of all sizes (contractors, SMEs and large companies from France and other European countries) wishing to develop in Africa.
The competition is backed by partners who support EPA Euroméditerranée in its open innovation initiative and want to connect with innovative African businesses (Startupbrics - organiser of the "Emerging Valley" summit, Agence Française de Développement, Accélérateur.M and the Fidal law firm) (hereinafter referred to as the "Affiliated Partners").
Affiliated Partners comprising the jury of the MED’ INNOVANT AFRICA competition alongside Euroméditerranée:
