Abstract:

The digitalisation of the economy and industry has become a priority for the European Union (EU) in the past few years, which has been reflected in its strategies and funding programmes. Since 2016, the EU started to actively invest in the creation and support of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) as the main structure for supporting the digital transformation of European businesses and innovation ecosystems, which importance was intensified with the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this line and taking into consideration the looked-for international partnership building between Europe and Africa, DIHs now represent a central factor in developing digital business opportunities between African and European entrepreneurs and start-ups. However, although Africa is undergoing a rapid digital transformation which translates into a strong potential for the digital economy to drive growth on the continent, this progress is still challenged by a variety of structural and systemic factors that restrict the creation of an enabling business environment and a strong digital innovation ecosystem capable to offer the required support services for boosting digital entrepreneurship. Therefore, the collaboration between Africa and Europe on an equal footing is critical for accelerating the digital transformation and contributing to the sustainable economic growth of both continents.

In this paper, the assessment of needed capacities and inventory of available capabilities of the digital innovation ecosystems will be explored in four specific countries (i.e. Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania) through the research activities conducted as part of the AfriConEU project - an Innovation Action funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. These results are key to attaining the project main and ambitious objective: to create the first Trans-Continental Networking Academy for supporting African and European DIHs in terms of capacity building, knowledge sharing, networking, collaboration, joint projects and ventures development.

Also, this paper will present the actions taken within the AfriConEU project to identify and record the state-of-the-art on existing capacity building and partnership programmes targeted to DIHs, which included a desk-based research through qualitative and quantitative methods (interviews, surveys and roundtable discussions). The findings of the research allowed to picture the state of the digital ecosystems examined (in terms of the needs, challenges and opportunities for strengthening digital innovation and transcontinental partnerships between African and European digital actors, and understand the impacts that the pandemic has had on African digital economies). The analysis shall contribute to the formulation of recommendations to improve capacity building, as well as mapped materials to support new DIHs in setting up their organisation and in optimising their operations and services.

The conclusions of the work carried out will serve the design of the future AfriConEu Networking Academy, and of its two flagship programmes:
1. Capacity Building for African DIHs, and,
2. Partnership Building between African and European DIHs; seeking to ensure that the training and services offer responds to the actual needs of DIHs, entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Keywords:

Digital Innovation Hubs, international cooperation, digital transition, innovation ecosystem, capacity building.