The SAIS 2 Programme together with Connected Hubs, brings you the Annual Southern Africa Innovation Forum (ASAIF) themed as “Inclusive Innovations within the context of connected ecosystems, innovations and entrepreneurship”. The ASAIF is taking place on 12 September 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa as part of the South Africa Innovation Summit.

Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) is commonly defined as innovation that reduces poverty, and enables all groups of people, especially the poor and vulnerable, to participate in decision-making, create, actualize and share the benefits of development. The ASAIF will explore inclusive innovation from the perspective of early-stage entrepreneurs developing products and services particularly with and to the socially or economically excluded population. The interactive discussions will focus on the role of start-ups’ and entrepreneurship in promoting more inclusive growth and how to include wider society in innovation and development activities.

The ASAIF 2018 will comprise of presentations and panel debates which explore policies fostering conducive innovation ecosystems for tech entrepreneurs; initiatives boosting the entrepreneurial culture and growth of start-ups, as well as tools and technologies empowering community engagement and scaling of innovations.

What Can You Expect?
The event will kick off with a key note address followed by lightning talks, fire-side chats and panel discussions including a line-up of some of the best speakers from the SADC region and internationally. Presenters and panelists will provide diverse views on what works (or not) in supporting innovation ecosystems for entrepreneurship and start-ups in the SADC region.

ASAIF 2018 is to be attended by start-ups, entrepreneurs, financiers, hubs, incubators, governments, academia, and donors, so prepare to network and share your experience. The atmosphere will be buzzing!

The forum programme and list of speakers is available on the ASAIF website. Visit the website and follow them on Facebook and Twitter to get regular updates leading up to the event!

The ASAIF will be a track within the SA Innovation Summit which takes place from 12-14 September 2018, so all  ASAIF attendants will need to purchase tickets for the main summit in order to gain access to the SAIS event, a 10% discount on the ticket price is applicable with use of the promo code SAIS2.

Buy Your Ticket Now

The ASAIF will  be followed by a networking cocktail  evening hosted by SAIS and NIRAS Finland, to bring together stakeholders and invited guests.  Join us to enjoy an evening of networking. This will take place on Level 05 at Cape Town Stadium and starts at 18h00, kindly RSVP to [email protected] by 24/08/2018.

SAIS 2 is a regional development initiative supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland together with the governments of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia and the secretariat of Southern African Development Community (SADC). The ASAIF is the SAIS 2 annual flagship event bringing together business, government, donors, NGOs and communities to share good practice and learn around issues of entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems in the SADC region and internationally.