Research and Development Network (RDN)

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The Champions of Science Africa Innovation Challenge

Throughout Africa, Johnson & Johnson is looking to drive entrepreneurship and help advance promising health care solutions. Chosen applicants will receive funding up to US $50,000 and technical mentoring from some of the brightest minds at Johnson & Johnson to help bring their idea to life and create meaningful change in their community or country.

The submitted health care solutions will be evaluated based on their ability to meet the following criteria:

Idea submission addresses at least one of the six challenge categories (Botanical Solutions; Packaging Innovations; Mental Health; Health Worker Support; Digital Health Tools; Essential Surgical Care).
Idea submission is innovative and creative.
Idea submission is scalable.
Idea submission outlines how the award would help the applicant(s) reach a critical milestone within the timeframe of a single year and provides a full commercialization plan.

You have to sign up for an account to get started, and you will receive an email to activate your account. You will be guided through the application process which will include signing our general Terms and Conditions Agreement, filling out your application form and uploading your non-confidential project plan.

Deadline to apply is January 16, 2019.
Winners will be announced in Spring 2019.

Apply Online

WHO Africa Innovation Challenge Calls for New Solutions to Improve Health in Africa: Promoting African Solutions for African people

The World Health Organisation Regional Office in Africa (WHO-AFRO) is calling on anyone working to apply new and innovative thinking to improve health outcomes for Africa.

WHO-AFRO is excited to announce the launch of the World Health Organisation Africa Innovation Challenge. The Challenge will source, select and support innovators, researchers and community-based initiatives including youth and women, that are working on novel solutions that improve health outcomes, quality of life, and apply new and fresh thinking to address unmet health needs in Africa.

This Challenge will prioritise innovative and scalable healthcare solutions for selection. The three submission categories are Product, Service and Social Innovation. Detailed information on the criteria and the application form is available at www.afro.who.int/innovchallenge

The deadline for submission of entries is Monday, 10 December 2018

WHO Africa Innovation Challenge Calls for New Solutions to Improve Health in Africa: Promoting African Solutions for African people

Energy Catalyst round 6: Transforming energy access- Funding competition

The Department for International Development (DFID) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will invest up to £10 million in innovation projects. These must encourage technology that will help countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia access secure, low cost and low carbon energy.

The aim of this competition is to support highly innovative, market-focused energy solutions in any technology or sector or international market. To be in scope for this round your project must meet the needs of people, businesses and services in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.

Proposals must also address all 3 elements of the energy ‘trilemma’:

cost
emissions
security of supply and energy access

There are 3 options to apply into this competition. These are referred to as strands and will be run in parallel. The strands are dependent on the stage your project is at:

early stage for feasibility studies
mid-stage for industrial research
late stage for experimental development

£3 million of the funding is set aside for bioenergy projects.

If your project falls outside of our scope for cost, length or applicable country, please email support@innovateuk.gov.uk at least 10 days before the competition closes.

Grant Size

Early stage projects can have total costs of £50,000 to £300,000 and last 6 to 12 months. Mid-stage: £50,000 to £1.5 million, 12 to 24 months. Late stage: £50,000 to £3 million, 12 to 30 months. Projects must start by 1 April 2019 and end by 30 Sept 2021.

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding for any strand you must:

be a business, academic organization, charity, public sector organization or research and technology organization (RTO)
apply as part of a collaboration with a UK organization if you are based in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia
intend to exploit the results to help deliver clean energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia
involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)

We will fund organizations from anywhere in the world.

Find out if your business fits the EU definition of an SME.

Any UK business claiming funding must be eligible to receive state aid. If you are unsure please take legal advice. For further information please see our general guidance.

Early stage

To lead you must be a UK SME or RTO.

If you are a UK SME you can apply on your own.

Larger businesses and other organizations must work in collaboration with others (businesses, research base or third sector)

Mid and late stage

To lead you must be a UK business.

You must work in collaboration with others (businesses, research base or third sector).

Your project must involve some research and development, testing or demonstration work in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. This can be done by either the UK or international partner.

International partners

International partners (business or other) are strongly encouraged, where relevant to the project. They will be funded, through the UK lead partner, on the same grant percentage terms as UK organizations.

The lead organization must claim to fund through this competition. If the project is collaborative, at least one other organization in the consortium must also claim to fund.

Please note that a ‘research organization’ is any organization receiving 100% funding or 80% full economic costing (FEC) funding.

Deadline

Wednesday 14 November 2018 12:00 pm

For more information GOV.UK

Energy Catalyst round 6: Transforming energy access- Funding competition

ACF – Visual Arts Innovation

The African Culture Fund (ACF) is a pan-African fund that aims to support the sectors of arts education and cultural and creative industries on the African Continent.

The Fund seeks to professionalize of the creative sector, promote cultural entrepreneurs, artists, culture professionals and socio-economic and cultural organizations producing cultural goods and culture service providers.

For this first call, the Fund supports activities and projects in the Visual Arts field.

This call, therefore, concerns activities and projects for the creation, production, and dissemination of works of visual arts. This call concerns traditional visual arts, contemporary visual arts, photography, video art, digital art, decorative arts (textile art, design, marquetry …), etc.

This call covers all countries of the African continent.

For any project made in relation with this call, the maximum budget is US $ 10,000. Projects must be completed over a period not exceeding 18 months.

Applications should include the following attachments:

– The completed application form (in Word or PDF format)

– CV (in Word or PDF format) or references of the candidate

– Cover letter

Applications must be submitted in English or French.

Deadline for submission: Friday, 05 December 2018

The guidelines and the application form can be downloaded from the Fund’s website at by CLICKING.

For clarification or information please send an email to application@africanculturefund.net no later than October 31, 2018.

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