Qualcomm Incorporated has announced the launch of the Africa Innovation Platform, a suite of mentorship, education, and training programs created to support the development of Africa’s emerging technology ecosystem.

The platform will provide resources and support for local universities, small-to-medium sized startups, and grant participants, exposing them to Qualcomm Technologies Inc.’s engineers and its state-of-the-art capabilities suite for mobile platforms and technologies, including 4G, 5G, IoT, AI, and machine learning.

“The Africa Innovation Platform will stimulate innovation around product development, inspire learning, fuel research, and increase awareness around the value of intellectual property throughout the continent,” said Enrico Salvatori, Senior Vice President & President, Europe/Middle East and Africa, Qualcomm Europe, Inc.

“At its core, Qualcomm is an R&D engine, and we are proud this program will simultaneously inspire the next generation of inventors, while also fueling the broader technology ecosystem.”

“Qualcomm representatives will engage and collaborate with governments, trade associations, and other key stakeholders throughout the continent, including the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), to launch the Africa Innovation Platform. “

The African Telecommunications Union is a firm advocate of innovation, and recently initiated a youth innovation programme for Africa with a projected financial value of about USD $400,000,” said the ATU. “ATU welcomes Qualcomm’s Africa Innovation Initiative and, working together, looks forward to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), catalyzing new business opportunities, and contributing to solving challenges in various sectors such as education, health, agriculture, movement, trade, and government services.”

Qualcomm’s Africa Innovation Platform is comprised of:  Qualcomm® Make in Africa Startup Mentorship Program: As the first initiative of its kind in Africa, this equity-free mentorship program will identify promising early-stage startups keen on applying advanced connectivity and processing technologies to innovative end-to-end systems solutions, including hardware, and provide these companies with business coaching, access to engineering consultation for product development, and guidance on protecting intellectual property.

This program will bolster the research and educational capabilities of select African universities, research labs, and students by providing them with learning platforms and associated trainings, as well as Qualcomm® developer kits. The program will also work with university faculty to develop course and lab curricula.

Qualcomm’s education and training arm will expand its 5G University Training Program to students at select African universities, who will be able to receive 5G training and certification from industry-leading engineers.

Since 2007, through the Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™ initiative, Qualcomm has invested in sustainable programs in Africa that demonstrate innovative uses of wireless technology to advance economic and social development.

Wireless Reach will continue this work through a collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union’s Development Bureau (ITU-D) that will focus on building early foundational digital skills for youth, with the aim of fostering the early stage of the talent pipeline that will go on to drive digital, inclusive economic transformation in Africa. Over the past 15 years, Wireless Reach’s 52 education projects have improved teaching and learning outcomes for nearly 1.2 million students and teachers in 20 countries to date.

“At Qualcomm, we have always been passionate about innovation. The Africa Innovation Platform is an exciting new program that builds on our close work with governments, operators, and telecommunications standardization bodies over the past several years,” said Elizabeth Migwalla, Vice President and Head of Government Affairs (Middle East and Africa), Qualcomm International, Inc.

“The programs that make up this platform will ultimately help African companies service markets throughout the continent and realize their global ambitions, further accelerating the growth of Africa’s creation economy.”

The Africa Innovation Platform will also help African entrepreneurs and researchers service markets throughout the continent, and participate in many economic sectors including healthcare, education, agriculture, critical infrastructure, smart cities, and smart industries. Applications will open mid-December 2022, and Qualcomm Technologies will hold online webinars to offer information sessions about the program.

It was important to reaffirm their commitment to the Africa Prosperity Dialogues and to focus the Africa transformation agenda internally.

“We are looking forward to this unique opportunity to have our business champions brainstorming with our heads of state and other decision makers on how to prioritise the single market project for our over 1.4 billion people.”

He said further that “Africa remains one if not the most important in terms of natural and human resources required to reboot the world back into appreciable growth”.

In her remarks, the director of APN Dr Nkiru Balonwu said “it was also significant for us to secure the strong interest of the African-American business leadership, as well. As President Akufo-Addo told the gathering of global African business leaders in Washington, Africa’s prosperity must deliberately involve the direct commitments and contributions from the African diaspora.”

Officials of APN who participated in the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit successfully made contact with all 49 African heads of state and governments who participated in the summit in the US, essentially to promote the Kwahu Summit and to firm up invitations extended to the heads of state ahead of the Summit.

As part of the promotional efforts by APN, its officials also participated in the Africa Soft

Power (ASP) conference, organised alongside the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit.

ASP is focused on harnessing the continent’s creative, cultural, and knowledge industries to propel itself forward, while championing the inclusion of African & Diaspora voices in global discourse. Ultimately, ASP seeks to showcase the continent and what its unique perspective can bring to the modern global economy at large.

The ASP conference held at the conference room of the National Geographic in Washington DC, brought together African business leaders in the US and across the African continent. APN’s message was presented in the strongest terms, urging participants to plan their participating forthwith.

The Kwahu Summit will be a platform where African leaders from diverse areas of national endeavour will gather each year to expedite the implementation of the agreed initiatives within the AfCFTA and shape the Africa Agenda for Action.

The Summit will bring into practical focus the continent’s critical challenges and industrialisation priorities and advance aggressively the commercial and infrastructural interventions to achieve the vision of an Africa Beyond Aid.