SA Innovation Summit 2021: Expanding Horizons

“The future is uncertain, but this uncertainty is at the very heart of human creativity’.

With the strike of the Covid-19 pandemic, the events industry being hardest hit, saw a lot businesses trying to find alternative ways of growing other revenue streams in areas such as live streaming and broadcasting services. It was no different for the SA Innovation Summit – Africa’s largest start-up event which for the first time took place virtually in 2020.

According to Lungile Maile, Founder of Nubian Smarts, “The virtual summit was an absolutely mind-blowing experience with speakers from all over the world, investors, and start-ups doing the most amazing things and all those people pledging to RE:imagine and RE:Ignite the African Economy.”

In 2021, the SA Innovation Summit – will be ‘Expanding Horizons’ by going across the country and continent to find the most amazing tech and tech-enabled start-ups that are solving Africa’s problems. SAIS2021 will take place in the form of a hybrid event from 21 – 23 September in Cape Town – the official Host City of SAIS2021 and will also allow lovers of innovations to virtually attend from anywhere in the world.

“Cape Town has always been a city of ideas, opportunity and innovation. As Africa’s Leading Digital City, the City of Cape Town is pleased to partner with the South African Innovation Summit for a platform where we can share ideas and find solutions to challenges.  The event is partly taking place online during a time the world is navigating through COVID-19, but we want to assure investors that Cape Town is safe and open for business,” said Cape Town Executive Mayor Dan Plato.

The Expanding Horizons Edition will bring together thought leaders and will explore the biggest challenges, trends and opportunities within Africa with top industry experts and inspiring leaders. This will be a tour around the world map taking deep dives into how to do business in different countries and ecosystems and corporate venturing, cross-continent collaboration and partnerships, with the following streams as key focus areas:

Expansion Strategies for Corporate Innovation and Start-ups will see thought leaders dissecting and discussing how corporates can work and collaborate with start-ups, what their role in the ecosystem is and the importance of innovation networks. Corporate Venture Capital as a driving force is discussed and unpacked.

The Future Cities and Communities stream will explore the future of blockchain and the competitiveness of the industry, how VR can impact education and the future of learning, how start-ups can solve the challenges in our cities and workplaces, what the future of work looks like and more.

We will also take a closer look at Tech-Entrepreneurship in Africa in the Founders Toolkit stream – looking at the state of the play and how to build a business you can sell. This stream will zoom in on the investment landscape across Africa, with a special focus on early-stage funding – from Angel to Series A.

The Summit will again offer Match and Invest – a platform to help attendees meet with the most suitable matches – a crucial component for achieving the key event outcomes of deal flow and business growth. The platform allows businesses to profile themselves and ask for what they need in order to be matched with the right enabler, investor, corporate or entrepreneur to help them take their business forward. At last year’s Summit, over 60% of active attendees reported that they were able to find and build partnerships and 49% said that doors were opened to access finance.

SAIS2021 promises a space to share experiences, think, create, learn and do. At the heart of the Summit is always the tech entrepreneur and this is reflected by a programme once again packed with competitions, demo days, exhibitions, pitch battles, panel discussions, masterclasses and workshops.

Ten of the best innovations from across South Africa will be awarded an opportunity to exhibit their invention, prototype or Minimum Viable Product (MVP) at the 2021 SA Innovation Summit in Cape Town. The Inventors Garage (a highlight of the Summit) powered by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition will not only offer entrepreneurs with a working prototype or product a chance to showcase their solution, it will also be an opportunity to gain access to funding, incubation, market exposure and/or business support. the dtic “Driving industrialisation through technology development and innovation”

The SA Innovation Summit has once again collaborated with the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) to bring the Fem-In-Tech Acceleration Programme aimed at supporting South African female-owned start-ups to become investment ready and to scale their businesses to new markets. 30 women entrepreneurs will go through an investment readiness programme where they will learn to build their investment case, receive mentorship and ultimately to be connected to venture capital and growth funding instruments. These women will also have the opportunity to participate in the Fem-In-Tech Demo Day at the Summit in Cape Town.

The centre stage of every Summit is the Africa Cup and this year will be no exception. This pitch battle will have start-ups who are disrupting traditional ways of doing business set to engage in an epic pitch battle in a virtual Pitching Den. The competition provides start-ups and early-stage companies in all tech-enabled sectors from around the world a space to compete for investment, showcase their products and services, gain market and media exposure, and secure support in the stages of scaling and growth.

SAIS Chairperson, Audrey Verhaeghe, says: “The SA Innovation Summit is well known for its capability to spot and showcase the new growth companies for investors, enablers and other fans. Past successes include Wi-Group, Ozow, Hear-X, Price Pally, Akiba and M-Post. We will keep on playing the role of showcasing, connecting and capacitating start-ups and eco-system players. In short, accelerating the economy one business at a time.”

About the SA Innovation Summit:

The SA Innovation Summit is the biggest start-up gathering in Africa that provides a platform for nurturing and showcasing African innovation, while facilitating access to funding, new markets and partnerships and business support. Created to support and promote innovation and facilitate collaboration, the event brings together entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, academia and policy makers from over 30 countries to accelerate innovation and inspire sustained economic growth across Africa. For information, visit: https://innovationsummit.co.za/

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