Enrich in Africa Congress

Wednesday 21 November

Brussels, Belgium

The european Business Council for Africa (EBCAM) participated in the Enrich in Africa Congress that was held on 21 November in Brussels. 

The Enrich in Africa is a project funded by the EU that creates a network for innovation stakeholders in Europe and Africa to meet with each other but also with policy makers, investors, incubators and accelerators. ENRICH in Africa involves key stakeholders facilitating innovation and representing the full triple-helix of business, academia, and governance in its activities. A strong, holistic EU-Africa innovation ecosystem ensures that the work done with incubators is sustainable and integrated into the wider economic landscape.

The event was an opportunity to meet with different stakeholders engaged with Africa as the audience and the panels was consisted of officials from the European Commission and EU agencies, enterpreneurs, consultants, academics and media. Topics like challenges that start-ups and SMEs face in African countries, the Intellectual Property SME Helpdesk that helps SMEs to understand the regulation on IP, updates on the AU-EU Innovation Agenda and experiences from enterpreneurs werer on the top of the dicussions.

Especially, challenges with infrastructure (digital, roads, traffic..), technical skills, visa problems for African people to Europe, bureaucracy and difficulties in funding are among the main problems that companies face when they are in the field and try to invest in all sectors. This is also an important issue that EBCAM highlights and tries to mention in its policy dialogue with the European Institutions. 

You can find here the presentations on Updates on the AU-EU Innovation Agenda and the Intellectual Property SME Helpdesk. 

You can find more information about the platform here.