HYBR Group has released a new research report “Assessing the next innovation ecosystem normal: an African perspective beyond hubs” – which focuses on the challenges and opportunities posed by Covid-19 in Africa. The global public health pandemic, coupled with a looming economic crisis, are rapidly reshaping the innovation and investment landscape in Africa. Though governments, corporations, and innovation hubs have spent years building innovation ecosystems to help entrepreneurs thrive, this investment is now at serious risk.
Charles Ojei, HYBR Group CEO explains that “innovation priorities, beyond hubs, remain overlooked. The pandemic has created an opportunity to redefine the role and function of the public sector as a true champion of breakthrough innovation. Reinventing the future requires investing in new capacities and upskilling decision-makers to grapple with the complexities of the unknown. Experiential, simulation-driven, multi-disciplinary approaches will be vital in crafting built-for-purpose solutions. African governments must also adjust their modus operandi to build real creative leadership capabilities that catalyze innovation”
Scott Walker, Partner at HYBR Group, and Director at Matter Innovation UK suggest “proper systems-thinking (and systems doing) is essential. But far too rarely does this occur. Imaginative organisations have leveraged the power of unconventional talent; however, this remains the exception, not the norm. Much more radical thinking is urgently required to address the complex societal challenges that now stand in front of us”.
The report indicates that the rebuild should be inclusive, circular, and focus on climate-smart industrialization, and be aligned to the investment opportunities fostered by advances in medical equipment and agro-processing. This also should be a watershed moment for public health innovation.
The report also proposes that a new, virtual center for African innovation should be established to pave the way to a knowledge-driven ecosystem, oiled with data, with mechanics for real-time knowledge exchange, effective feedback loops, and real collective intelligence solutions to forge open and effective pan-African collaboration.
An exclusive, invite-only, roundtable discussion that featured stakeholders from across both the public and private sectors, was recently held to discuss the white paper and build support for a number of the recommendations contained within the report. Several next steps are now being discussed as HYBR seeks to build on these conversations and take forward action.
- The White Paper can be downloaded via the following link: https://www.hybrgroup.net/next
- The report features secondary based research, which was conducted from May to July 2020 before the work was peer-reviewed by selected participants from the THNK School of Creative Leadership in July 2020.
- This report is the second installment of HYBRs assessment of the innovation ecosystem. The first report, African Innovation Paradigms, was published by Thomson Reuters in September 2018. For more information see: https://www.hybrgroup.net/yes/newsroom/african-innovation-paradigm-report
About HYBR Group
HYBR is Pan-African Innovation firm and growth platform for impact scale-ups. We help grow appropriate and effective solutions in Africa via our work with a wide range of stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, multinational organisations, governments, nonprofits, academia and institutional investors. For more information please visit www.hybrgroup.net