African Union (AU)-European Union (EU) Innovation Agenda Consultation

The European Commission launched a public consultation on the working document of the joint African Union (AU)-European Union (EU) Innovation Agenda

https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/IAPublicConsultation

This online survey will be available until May 13th, 2022 

This is an ambitious initiative aiming to translate Research & Innovation endeavours into tangible businesses, services and jobs in Africa and Europe. 

This consultation aims, using an online survey, to gather input and feedback from citizens and stakeholders (including also organisations) to ensure that the Innovation Agenda will be fully respondent to needs on the ground. Participants can take the survey either as individuals or on behalf of their respective organisations/institutions/universities.

A copy of the working document of the Innovation Agenda is accessible right on the online survey page (after the Introductory Paragraph), also in French (soon in Portuguese and Arabic). 

The AU-EU Innovation Agenda Working document Version of 14 February 2022 #38 p

A joint working group of the AU-EU HLPD on STI took stock of previous and ongoing joint R&I activities:

• results and lessons learnt of the Africa-Europe Innovation Partnership pilot project, 
• opinions of the AU-EU Advisory Group on R&I , 
• discussions that took place at the EU-AU R&I Ministerial 2020, 
• and the pilot mapping exercise of projects of the EU-AU R&I Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture , 
• as well as progress of the R&I Partnership on Climate Change and Sustainable Energy (CCSE), including on climate resilience and adaptation. 
• The identification of gaps and needs in the field of digitalisation that resulted in the key recommendations of the AU-EU Digital Economy Task Force and initiatives like the D4DHub were also taken into account. 

The results of the analysis of needs and gaps identified five areas: a) the innovation ecosystem b) innovation management, c) knowledge exchange, including technology transfer, d) access to finance, and e) human capacity development. 

The Agenda foresees short-, medium- and long-term actions in the four joint AU-EU priority areas of Research & Innovation, namely

1. Public Health, 
2. Green Transition (encompassing Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change and Sustainable Energy); 
3. Innovation & Technology 
4. Capacities for Science

"Differences in the capacities between AU and EU innovation players (universities, research institutions, incubators, accelerators, investors, venture capitalists, private equity firms, governments), and approaches, combining capacity empowerment and enabling environment upgrading, need to be taken into account, together with respecting principles of a just transition approach." (page 26)

Fostering the participation of financing partners / Access to financial resources

• Need to strengthen existing R&I funding instruments, and promote the establishment of new, flexible funding programmes at bilateral, regional and international levels, while also diversifying funding partners. 
• Need for financial support to scaling up R&I project outcomes, and transform them into successful entrepreneurial ventures, like start-ups, and related infrastructure, normally requiring important investments (also from FNSSA mapping study, and upcoming from CCSE)). 
• Need private capital and corporations to play their important role in maintaining an innovation ecosystem (e.g. by attracting early stage and corporate investors to local innovation ecosystems to support the growth and expansion of spin-off companies or absorb generated IP through licensing). 

ANNEX 3: RESULTS OF THE PILOT MAPPING OF THE EU-AU R&I PARTNERSHIP ON FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE - Below you will find the list of projects that have the highest business potential out of an initial selection of 34 projects 

1. DualCassava: Dual-resistant cassava for climate resilience, economic development and increased food security of smallholders in eastern and southern Africa (Funded through “African Union Research Grant II”)
2. Crop and Soil Health Improvement for Sustainable Agricultural Intensification towards Economic Transformation in West Africa (Funded through “DG INTPA”) 
3. UPSCALERS: Upscaling Site-Specific Climate-smart Agriculture and Land use practices to Enhance Regional Production Systems in West-Africa (Funded through “African Union Research Grant II”)
4. Promote sustainable management of Tuta absoluta, an invasive pest of Solanaceous vegetables for food and nutritional security in East Africa (Funded through “African Union Research Grant II”) 
5. PASUSI: Participatory Pathways to Sustainable Intensification. Innovation platforms to integrate leguminous crops and inoculants into small-scale agriculture and local value chains (Funded through “ERA-NET Cofund, LEAP-Agri”)
6. EcoAfrica: ECOlogical intensification pathways for the future of crop-livestock integration in AFRICAn agriculture  (Funded through DG INTPA) 
7. MAB Chicken: Marker-assisted breeding of selected native chickens in Mozambique and Uganda (Funded through “African Union Research Grant II”) 
8. EatSANE: Education and Training for Sustainable Agriculture and Nutrition in East Africa (Funded through “ERA-NET Cofund, LEAP-Agri”)
9. Enhancing nutritional quality of plantain food products through improved access to endophyte primed and high pro vitamin A plantain cultivars under integrated soil fertility management practices in Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon (Funded through “African Union Research Grant II”) 
10. SafeFish: Development of bacteriophage cocktails as disease biocontrol agents for improved aquaculture productivity, food and nutrition safety in Ghana and Uganda (Funded through “African Union Research Grant II”) 
11. AFRICA-MILK: Promote ecological intensification and inclusive value chains for sustainable African milk sourcing (Funded through “ERA-NET Cofund, LEAP-Agri”)
12. SPEAR (Empowering small-scale farmers): towards the SDGs through participative, innovative and sustainable livestock and poultry value chains (Funded through “ERA-NET Cofund, LEAP-Agri”) 
13. Enhancing the nutrition and health of smallholder farmers in East Africa through increased productivity of biofortified common bean and improved postharvest handling  (Funded through “African Union Research Grant II”) 
14. Implementation of Agroforestry Systems in S. Tomé and Príncipe and development of non-wood forest products (NWFP) in Angola and S. Tomé and Príncipe to improve income-generation and food security (Funded through “African Union Research Grant II”)