The Innovate Africa Challenge (3rd Edition), organized jointly by the Smart Africa and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a continental initiative aimed at accelerating the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to address climate and agricultural challenges in Africa.
Eligibility Criteria
The challenge is open to startups, innovators, and solution developers actively developing or deploying AI-driven solutions for climate-smart agriculture. Applicants must demonstrate not only technological maturity but also a strong commitment to strengthening the innovation ecosystem, contributing to measurable impact, and showcasing viable pathways to scaling and financial sustainability.
This call is only open for applicants coming from Ghana ,Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda.
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
Rules and Principles
All participating startups must:
- Comply with applicable data protection and privacy requirements in the countries of operation;
- Apply responsible and explainable AI practices appropriate to agricultural decision-making;
- Demonstrate bias identification and mitigation, particularly across gender, geography, and farming systems;
- Respect farmer data rights and obtain appropriate consent for data use;
- Maintain the confidentiality of all information shared under the challenge.
Smart Africa reserves the right to define and enforce additional data governance and responsible AI requirements throughout the challenge.
Participants shall retain ownership of pre-existing intellectual property.
However:
- Smart Africa shall retain rights over challenge outputs, reports, and frameworks developed under the initiative;
- Any subsequent scale-up or deployment phase may be governed by separate contractual arrangements defining ownership, licensing, and deployment rights
Ends On: 31st August 2026
