Qualcomm Incorporated has launched its Africa Innovation Platform, a suite of mentorship, education and training programs designed to support the advancement of Africa’s growing technology ecosystem.
Qualcomm made the announcement on Thursday, 15th December 2022.
President Europe/Middle East and Africa, Qualcomm Europe, Inc., Enrico Salvatori, said the platform is designed to encourage product development, research and knowledge gathering in the tech space.
According to Salvatori, “The Africa Innovation Platform will stimulate innovation around product development, inspire learning, fuel research, and increase awareness around the value of intellectual property throughout the continent.”
Speaking further, the President said “at its core, Qualcomm is an R&D engine, and we are proud this program will simultaneously inspire the next generation of inventors, while also fueling the broader technology ecosystem.”
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What Africa Innovation Platform Offers
The platform will provide resources and support for local universities, small-to-medium sized startups, and grant participants, exposing them to Qualcomm Technologies Inc.’s engineers and its state-of-the-art capabilities suite for mobile platforms and technologies, including 4G, 5G, IoT, AI, and machine learning.
Qualcomm representatives will engage and collaborate with governments, trade associations, and other key stakeholders throughout the continent, including the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), to launch the Africa Innovation Platform.
According to the African group, “The African Telecommunications Union is a firm advocate of innovation, and recently initiated a youth innovation programme for Africa with a projected financial value of about USD $400,000,” said the ATU.
“ATU welcomes Qualcomm’s Africa Innovation Initiative and, working together, looks forward to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), catalyzing new business opportunities, and contributing to solving challenges in various sectors such as education, health, agriculture, movement, trade, and government services.”
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Components Of Qualcomm’s Africa Innovation Platform
Qualcomm Make in Africa Startup Mentorship Program This equity-free mentorship program is designed to spot promising early-stage startups focused on applying advanced connectivity and processing technologies to innovative end-to-end system solutions, including hardware, and provide these companies with business coaching, access to engineering consultation for product development, and guidance on protecting intellectual property.
Qualcomm Africa University Relations Program: This program will enhance the research and educational capabilities of select African universities, research labs, and students by making available to them learning platforms and associated trainings, as well as Qualcomm developer kits. The program will also work with university faculty to develop course and lab curricula.
Qualcomm Wireless Academy, the company’s education and training arm, will expand its 5G University Training Program to include students at certain African universities. These students will be able to learn about 5G and get certified by some of the best engineers in the industry.
Wireless Reach: Since 2007, Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative has been working to provide Africa with long-term programs that show how wireless technology can be used in new ways to improve economic and social development. Wireless Reach will continue this work through a collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union’s Development Bureau (ITU-D) that will focus on building early foundational digital skills for youth with the aim of fostering the early stage of the talent pipeline that will go on to drive digital, inclusive economic transformation in Africa.
Over the past 15 years, Wireless Reach’s 52 education projects have improved teaching and learning outcomes for nearly 1.2 million students and teachers in 20 countries to date.
Vice President and Head of Government Affairs (Middle East and Africa), Qualcomm International, Inc., Elizabeth Migwalla said, “At Qualcomm, we have always been passionate about innovation. “The Africa Innovation Platform is an exciting new program that builds on our close work with governments, operators, and telecommunications standardization bodies over the past several years.”
The Africa Innovation Platform will also help African entrepreneurs and researchers service markets throughout the continent and participate in many economic sectors, including healthcare, education, agriculture, critical infrastructure, smart cities, and smart industries. The firm has already run similar, successful programs in India, Taiwan, and Vietnam, which this program builds on.
Applications will open in mid-December 2022, and Qualcomm Technologies will schedule online webinars to provide information sessions about the program, with more details provided on their website.
