BIC Africa took part in the 2nd SEADE R&I Summit held on 18 June 2025 contributing to key discussions on research and innovation collaboration between Africa and Europe.
Robert Sanders, Team Leader at BIC Africa at EBN, joined the panel session focused on “International Partnership Building between Africa and Europe Innovation Ecosystems.” He shared valuable insights from BIC Africa’s project ongoing work in supporting business incubators in the five target countries – Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Somalia, and promoting entrepreneurship, with a particular emphasis on empowering women entrepreneurs across Africa. His remarks highlighted how targeted support, especially for women-led enterprises, can unlock inclusive innovation and create sustainable opportunities within local economies. The panel showcased how European and African innovation ecosystems are working together through concrete projects and initiatives to foster meaningful partnerships and support a wide range of stakeholders. BIC Africa soft landing, for example, where selected business incubators spend few days to connect with European counterparts for knowledge sharing, partnerships, and explore the possibility of developing exchange programmes. The panel also featured Stephan Kreutzer from Technopolis and Antoine Beyssac from EuroQuity – Bpifrance, moderated by Tendai Pasipamire from ENRICH in Africa – EiA Centre.
The summit served as a platform for exchanging best practices and strengthening networks between institutions, researchers, and innovation actors from both regions. BIC Africa has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthen cross-border collaboration, partnerships and empowering innovation actors across the African continent, contributing to a more connected and resilient global innovation landscape.
The summit brought together key stakeholders from research, innovation, policy, and development sectors to deepen cooperation between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. This conference was held alongside the EBN congress 2025 in Barakaldo, Spain
We thank SEADE for the kind invitation and look forward to continuing our collaboration.