Open Startup is changing course after helping more than 1,000 startups and over 3,000 entrepreneurs across Africa over the past decade, betting that the continent’s next wave of innovation will come from laboratories, research centres and deep technology ventures.
This is even as the pan-African entrepreneurship organisation on Monday unveiled ‘The Science Road’, a new strategy designed to help scientific discoveries become commercially successful businesses. The initiative marks a major shift in the organisation’s mission as it celebrates its 10th anniversary since its launch in Tunisia in 2016.
The new direction will focus on startups developing research-driven solutions in healthcare, climate technology, artificial intelligence and other science-based sectors, while introducing an early-stage investment vehicle, ‘Openers First-, to help promising ventures bridge one of Africa’s biggest funding gaps.
The move comes as African innovation ecosystems continue to mature, with investors and development partners increasingly looking beyond fintech and consumer internet startups towards technologies capable of addressing pressing challenges in healthcare, food security, climate resilience and industrial development.
