From dialogue to delivery: Africa-Europe innovation in action
On 7 May 2026, the AEIP organised the webinar From Dialogue to Delivery: Africa-Europe Innovation in Action. More than 250 African and European participants got a glimpse of how the AEIP is supporting partnerships across continents, strengthening innovation ecosystems and translating the ambitions of the AU-EU Innovation Agenda into concrete opportunities for collaboration.
Opening the session, AEIP Project Coordinator Stephan Kreutzer (Technopolis Germany) underlined the AEIP’s core mission: strengthening connections between African and European innovation ecosystems. “Innovation thrives on connection,” Kreutzer noted, emphasising that impactful innovation depends on collaboration and shared problem-solving across sectors and regions.
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Advancing the AU-EU Innovation Agenda
The webinar first focused on the broader context of the implementation of the AU-EU Innovation Agenda, presented by Dr. Vincenzo Lorusso (European Commission, DG RTD) and Lukovi Seke (AUDA-NEPAD), co-chairs of the AU-EU Innovation Agenda Working Group.
The speakers outlined the agenda’s ambition to strengthen long-term cooperation between the African Union and European Union through research, innovation and entrepreneurship partnerships. Lukovi Seke stressed the importance of moving “from rhetoric to tangible deliverables”, ensuring that research and innovation generate real socio-economic impact across both continents.
Dr. Vincenzo Lorusso and Lukovi Seke provided updates on the Horizon Europe Africa Initiative IV, which includes 25 calls for proposals with a total budget of EUR 500 million aimed at strengthening collaborative research and innovation between African and European partners. For more information, please watch the recording of the Hands-on Workshop organised by EURAXESS Africa and the AEIP.
They also highlighted the Dashboard of the AU-EU Innovation Agenda, a “living repository” of projects, programmes, partnerships and scholarships contributing to the implementation of the agenda.
Participants also received an early preview of the next AU-EU Innovation Fair, scheduled for November 2026 in Bari, Italy, with a thematic focus on food systems and nutrition security. More information will follow soon.
AEIP digital space: connecting innovation ecosystems
The AEIP digital space is designed as a “one-stop shop” for Africa-Europe innovation collaboration and supports stakeholders across the innovation value chain through features such as:
- Partner Finder
- Funding Opportunities
- Capacity Building
- IP support
- Directory of networks and initiatives
Interactive Slido polls revealed strong interest in features such as the Partner Finder, Funding Opportunities and ecosystem resources, while also showing that many attendees were still discovering the features of the digital space.
Spotlight on innovation in action
Alongside the digital platform, the webinar showcased several AEIP initiatives already supporting innovation collaboration.
Art4Change Storytelling Fellowship
The Art4Change Storytelling Fellowship, led by the Youth Café, will support young creatives aged 18–35 from Africa, Europe and the diaspora to document youth-led innovation through writing, photography, video and digital storytelling.
The six-month programme aims to amplify grassroots innovation stories that are often overlooked in traditional policy and research discussions.
While the quota for African applicants has been reached, applications remain open for participants based in Europe until 29 May 2026.
Emerging Trends in Digital Education webinar series
This new webinar series coordinated by the Association of African Universities focuses on digital education, including topics such as student-centred digital pedagogies, collaborative research tools and digital skills for academics. The initiative aims to strengthen teaching, learning and institutional innovation across higher education systems in Africa and Europe.
Training for incubators and accelerators
The AEIP’s training programme for incubators and accelerators is designed to strengthen innovation ecosystems and cross-continental collaboration. Delivered by EU|BIC-certified trainers, the programme addresses innovation ecosystems, organisational development and service delivery for business support organisations.
Recordings of the sessions are available through the AEIP YouTube channel.
Communities of Practice and ecosystem exchange
Breakout sessions during the webinar focused on the implementation and results of the completed AEIP Communities of Practice (CoPs) on:
- Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- Commercialisation of Innovative Products
- Climate Change and Sustainable Education
The next AEIP CoP will cover Urban Diplomacy and Innovation and will kick off on Friday 29 May 2026.
Youth Innovation Playbook
The webinar also introduced the AEIP Youth Innovation Playbook, a new resource that bridges high-level policy frameworks with grassroots impact.
The playbook supports entrepreneurs, business support organisations and policymakers through practical tools, case studies and innovation methodologies aimed at addressing systemic challenges in youth entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems.
Green Transition Thematic Challenge announces winning collaborations
One of the webinar’s highlights was the announcement of the winning partnerships from the AEIP Green Transition Thematic Challenge.
The Thematic Challenge attracted almost 250 expressions of interest from organisations across Africa and Europe, resulting in 45 matched partnerships and 27 successful collaborations focused on climate adaptation, circular economy and sustainable innovation.
The three winning collaborations were:
- Aim-Higher Youth Cooperative (Zambia) & glocolearning (Belgium) — developing a co-learning hub for youth-led green entrepreneurship;
- Biosphere Foundation (Uganda) & Impressora (Spain) — creating circular economy solutions using recycled plastics and 3D printing;
- Inkomoko (Rwanda) & Rama Impact (France) — building an organic waste-to-biofertiliser agritech system supporting displacement-affected communities.
The winners will be sponsored to attend the upcoming AEIP stakeholder event later this year.
During the webinar, AEIP also officially launched its new Thematic Challenge on Public Health, inviting business support organisations, start-ups, SMEs, researchers, policymakers and civil society organisations to collaborate on the following topics:
- Diseases, priority health areas and public health research
- Health systems strengthening
- Manufacturing and access to health technologies
- Digital health, data and AI
- Health security, surveillance and preparedness
Looking ahead: AEIP Innovation Dialogues 2026
Closing the webinar, AEIP Deputy Project Coordinator Asuka Heltmann (Technopolis Germany) announced that the next AEIP Stakeholder Meeting will take place in East Africa in early October 2026, after last year’s Brussels edition, in partnership with the Afrilabs Annual Gathering.
The hybrid Stakeholder Meeting will bring together innovation hubs, policymakers, researchers, investors and entrepreneurs from across Africa and Europe to strengthen partnerships, showcase collaborative initiatives and explore new opportunities for ecosystem development.
Stakeholders interested in becoming part of the AEIP community are encouraged to register on the digital space of the AEIP and subscribe to the newsletter to keep up with the latest news and opportunities.