Criteria for Selection - IPA 2013 - Innovation Prize for Africa

The 2013 IPA will consist of three Prizes, which will be given following the criteria outlined below:

A. The first Prize of USD100’000: This Prize will be awarded to the innovator with the overall best innovation that meets all the following five IPA criteria (listed in alphabetical order) with clear business potentials:

Marketability: Potential for commercialization and bankability
Originality: Innovativeness, demonstrated creativity and originality of idea
Scalability: Scale and scope and whether a reasonable strategy for moving ahead has been made
Social impact: The socio-economic impacts of the proposed innovation, and how it addresses existing development challenges faced by a community/country or the continent as whole.
Utility/technical aspects: The technological or scientific significance of the innovation in the particular field and beyond.

All received applications are subjected to a rigorous multi-tier assessment/evaluation process based on the aforementioned five weighted criteria.

Below is a summary of steps involved in IPA selection process with the timeline:

Prescreening (August 2012 to early February 2013): will be done as per the following two phases

1st Phase of prescreening will be undertaken by IPA team in order to assess that the received applications meet the minimum requirements.
2nd phase of prescreening will be supported by a reputable academic institution and supervised by the IPA team. This assessment will evaluate the applications against the aforementioned IPA criteria.
3rd phase of prescreening will be undertaken by the IPA Secretariat in order to cross-check the scoring done in the 2nd phase. This cross-checking will be carried out by doing a random sampling of the applications with a score of 60% and higher which did not make it into the scoring range to be forwarded to the Selection Panel committee.

Shortlisting (mid February to early March 2013): will be undertaken by the selection panel composed of people from business, social change and academia background.
Backgrounds check (early March 2013): background checks on the ownership and authenticity of the shortlisted innovations will be carried out by the IPA team. If needed, site visits might be envisaged.
Validation (mid-March to early April 2013): will be carried out by technical experts from reputable institutions and will evaluate the innovativeness of the shortlisted applications.
Phone interviews (early April 2013): will be undertaken by the selection panel to determine the IPA nominees who would be invited to the face to face interviews.
Face to face interviews (early May 2013): the selection panel will conduct face-to-face interviews of the nominees who would be invited to the award ceremony. The winners would be chosen after the interviews and announced during the Award ceremony.
Award Ceremony (early May 2013): the 2013 IPA winners (first Prize,the runner-up, and the special Prize) will be announced and awarded at a special ceremony. Venue and exact date will be announced by the end of March 2013 and will be posted on IPA website.

Information about the IPA 2013 winners will be disseminated internationally and featured in several UN reports on Science Technology and Innovation (STI) from May 2013. Interviews with various media are also envisaged. The abovementioned date is subject to change, so please check IPA websites for any updates: http://innovationPrizeForAfrica.org

less...

Menu

Innovation & Africa

Find us on facebook

Partners