Green Africa Booster 2018: green innovation in the spotlight

A thousand participants and sixty startups took part in the 2nd edition of the “Green Africa Innovation Booster” which took place on June 26 and 27 in Yamoussoukro, the Ivorian capital. This event in favor of green innovation in Africa was initiated by the Research Institute of Solar Energy and New Energies of Morocco (IRESEN).

Green innovation in the spotlight at the Green AIB

The Green Africa Innovation Booster (GreenAIB) is an international event that aims to bring together African and international researchers, startups and industrialists in the fields of green innovation.

This second edition, organized in collaboration with the Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouet Boigny (INP-HB), a renowned Ivorian engineering school, was articulated around conferences, an exhibition of start-ups and a pitch competition to reward research and innovation in the fields of renewable energies, energy efficiency, smart networks and sustainable mobility. DJOUMAN was present, represented by our CEO, Murielle Diaco, who spoke in particular on the ecosystems of green innovation in Africa and shared our experience in terms of support and development of projects that create impact.

The Green AIB was an opportunity to strengthen the collaborative links between IRESEN and several African universities and research institutes. The opening ceremony was marked, moreover, by the accession of new members to the African Green Innovation Network. Thus, Guinea, Comoros, Niger and Nigeria join Moroccan, Ivorian, Malian, Beninese, Senegalese and Burkinabe institutes.

Innovations by Africans for Africans

The event brought together some sixty very promising start-ups from fifteen countries who presented their revolutionary innovations and opened the door to future partnerships. These start-ups are developing projects to address the real issues of the African continent in areas such as access to clean energy, access to water, waste and agricultural residues recovery, water management in agriculture …

In total, 6 projects were awarded. The prize for the best start-up went to Yalletite, an Ivorian start-up that manufactures vegan leather from pineapple leaves. The 2nd prize was awarded to Fire Light, another Ivorian start-up, for its eco-energy cooker project, transforming liquid fuels (bioethanol, kerosene, etc..) into gas. The 3rd prize went to E-Cover, a Senegalese startup specialized in the transformation of used tires into tiles, flooring, shoe soles and roads.

The jury also awarded two special prizes: Green Watech, a Moroccan wastewater treatment project for rural and decentralized areas, and Sablatex, an Ivorian startup that manufactures low-cost flexible bricks from sand and latex with excellent insulating properties.

The best R&D project was awarded to a project for the automatic detection of defects in photovoltaic systems using drones.

Now we can only look forward to the next edition in 2019!