EU-Africa cooperation in Research & Innovation

As a strategic partner, the EU seeks to enhance cooperation with Africa to promote actions targeted to finding locally adapted solutions to challenges that are global in nature, but which often hit Africa hardest. The Comprehensive Strategy with Africa, and the Global Approach to Research & Innovation, are the EU’s most recent policy initiatives that prioritise Research & Innovation as a key dimension of sustainable development.

The African Union – European Union High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation is the policy forum where regular exchanges on research and innovation policy take place between both continents and where long-term priorities to strengthen cooperation are decided.

Four policy priorities for EU-AU cooperation in Research & Innovation:

  1. Public Health
  2. Green Transition
  3. Innovation and Technology
  4. Capacities for Science and Higher Education (Science for Policy Making, Open Science, Human Capital Development, Gender Equality)

What’s next?

The EU and the AU are jointly developing an Innovation Agenda, a shared technical arrangement for cooperation to transform and increase the innovative capacities and achievements of European and African researchers and innovators into tangible outputs, supporting sustainable growth and jobs. The EU-AU Summit in 2022 offers the opportunity to acknowledge the Innovation Agenda.

Are you an innovator, incubator, accelerator, or entrepreneur and you want to be part of the EU-Africa innovation network? Get involved in Enrich in Africa !

The Advisory Group on R&I for Africa-Europe Cooperation advised the European Commission in strategically mainstreaming R&I in Africa-Europe partnerships, and stimulate the cooperation between the two continents in R&I. More information here.

The European Commission and the EDCTP Association will work together with philanthropies and industry in the next Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking (2022-2027) to contribute to the reduction of the socio-economic burden of infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, with a total budget of €1.6 billion.

Find out more:

Africa-Europe cooperation website
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Erasmus+
JRC African Knowledge Platform (to be launched in 2022)
Euraxxess Africa (to be launched in 2022)

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