The final event of the AGEA Business Idea Competition 2022 was held on 20 September 2022 as part of the 30th Anniversary Conference of the SEPT Competence Center, Leipzig University. The event followed a blended setting with over 100 in-person and online participants.
This year, 94 applications were received from over 20 African universities and 34 of the ideas qualified based on the evaluation criteria to move to the next stage of the competition. The applicants were given access to our innovation platform ”Innolytics” for more details about the ideas. A team of evaluators assessed and rated the ideas based on set criteria to determine the Top six ideas for the final.
The final event was opened by Prof. Utz Dornberger, Director, SEPT Competence Center, who, in his opening message, highlighted the importance of academic entrepreneurship and spin-offs, and thus the need to support such start-up ideas, especially from African Universities. The final ideas were presented to the audience through promotional idea videos and a Q&A session with the final jury members and the audience. Based on the videos and the answers to the questions asked, the jury scored and ranked the ideas. The audience also voted for the best idea to win the Audience Award.
Here are the final winners of the AGEA Business Idea Competition 2022:
- First Jury Prize: WAH Insecticide (University of Development Studies, Ghana)
- Second Jury Prize: Bacterial Wilt Bactericide (Pan African University Institute of Basic Sciences, Technology, and Innovation, PAUSTI, Kenya)
- Third Jury Prize: Kuzimba Services (Makerere University, Uganda)
- Audience Prize: Kuzimba Services (Makerere University, Uganda)
The first, second, and third winners of the jury prizes receive a cash reward of €1000, €500, and €300, respectively, while the winner of the audience prize gets €500. All the Top six idea teams are eligible to participate in idea and business development initiatives such as the AGEA Start-up Class in 2023 to ensure that the ideas become viable products and services for various markets.
Read more about the Top Six final ideas.
Special thanks to our sponsors, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD), and Conoscope GmBH for supporting related project activities and the awards of the competition.
