The Royal Academy of Engineering has launched its 2027 Africa Prize for engineers and innovators in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, which is part funded by the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, is the continent’s leading award focused on advancing engineering-led innovation, created to recognise, encourage and support ingenuity and entrepreneurial talent across sub-Saharan Africa. In 2027, following an eight-month commercialisation programme, the winners will receive a total of £85,000 in prize money, with £50,000 awarded to the overall winner, £10,000 granted to each of three finalists, and a further £5,000 presented for the ‘One-to-Watch’ award.
The Africa Prize’s unique format also offers invaluable training, communication resources, and mentoring to develop their products and businesses with the Academy’s network of expert Fellows. The Africa Prize programme now supports more than 180 businesses from 24 countries.
Meredith Ettridge, Associate Director, International, at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said:
“The Africa Prize community continues to grow and each year we’re seeing increased engagement from innovators across the continent, reflecting the depth and diversity of engineering talent in sub-Saharan Africa. This year, we’re focused on building new connections in regions where awareness of the Prize is still growing, to broaden our reach and support even more innovations with the potential to scale and make a lasting difference.”
Each year 16 candidates are shortlisted for the Prize, benefiting from a comprehensive support package designed to accelerate their innovations. The support includes an intensive eight-month training programme, focussing on core business skills like financial management and market analysis. The training is designed to support entrepreneurs in turning their ideas into scalable, market-ready solutions. On top of this, participants have access to expert mentoring in business, technology, engineering and communications via the Academy’s extensive network of engineers and industry leaders across Africa and the UK. Alumni of the Prize also benefit from this thriving network and have collectively secured more than $34 million in third-party grants and equity funding to date.
Previous innovators shortlisted for the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation
Applications span a wide range of sectors. This year’s 16 shortlisted candidates for the 2026 Africa Prize were recognised for innovations developed across 11 African countries. Their solutions include AI-powered maternal and cardiac health tools, mobile dialysis technologies, digital learning platforms for biomedical and coding skills, smart public transport systems, renewable energy for off-grid communities and hospitals, smart agritech, low-cost clean water supply and waste management.
In Rwanda, Millicent Kariuki, CEO and co-founder of HarakaPlus, is making public transport in African cities more accessible, reliable and predictable. By providing commuters with real-time bus tracking and giving transport operators greater insight into passenger demand, HarakaPlus is helping modernize urban mobility and improve everyday travel. Since launching as a minimum viable product in 2024, the platform has reached nearly 5,000 users, demonstrating strong early adoption and the potential to transform how people navigate public transport.
A previous Africa Prize finalist from Côte d’Ivoire was Rory Assandey, Co-Founder and CEO of La Ruche Health. His innovation tackles the difficulties patients face in accessing healthcare specialists by providing patients with an AI-powered initial point of contact via WhatsApp for personalised triaging and matching with the right health specialists on La Ruche Health’s telemedicine platform. This AI agent, Kiko, also automatically generates digital records through integration with a cloud-based Electronic Medical Record system that manages scheduling, payments and practitioner earning disbursements. In 2025, La Ruche Health reported more than 5,000 teleconsultations, with 71% of general medicine consultations completed the same day and 52% of specialist consultations completed within 48 hours. The company also won the 2025 Prix Galien Africa Award for Innovation in Digital Healthcare.
Cristovão Cacombe, an Angolan innovator shortlisted for the 2023 Africa Prize, developed Arobot, a robotics learning tool for children designed to resemble the three-wheeled Angolan motorbike known as the “kupapata”. Since 2021, it has expanded to 15 cities across Angola and trained more than 7,000 students.
Two recent winners from South Africa include:
- Neo Hutiri, Founder and Managing Director of Technovera, the company behind Pelebox, won the Africa Prize for his smart locker system, designed to dispense chronic medicine to regular patients. The innovation cuts down on long queues and eases pressure on clinic resources. So far Neo has reached more than 3000 patients, serving them in just 36 seconds on average. Their aim is a future where people across Africa can access medication in seconds rather than hours.
- Ed Wessels created Flexigyn, a portable device that enables gynaecologists to diagnose and treat uterine health conditions without anaesthetic. By bringing procedures that are usually carried out in specialist operating theatres into local clinics, the product is helping make gynaecological care more accessible, comfortable and affordable for patients. The innovation has reduced costs by 70% and shortened waiting times from 10 months to just two weeks. Since winning the Prize in 2023, Flexigyn has completed development of its minimum viable product and is now preparing for large-scale deployment.
Muzalema Mwanza, a Zambian innovator shortlisted for the 2019 Africa Prize, is the Founder of Safe Motherhood Alliance and developed the Baby Delivery Kit, a simple but well-researched set of tools for midwives in Zambia supporting births in under-resourced clinics and home settings; the organisation has recently launched the Safe Pay mobile app, which improves access to healthcare by enabling users to pay for maternal and sexual health services, from Baby Delivery Kits to contraception and sexual health kits, using mobile money.
Marie Ndieguene, a Senegalese innovator shortlisted in 2021, created I3S, an ecologically friendly and affordable storage space solution designed to solve the problem of post-harvest loss in agriculture. I3S is now used by more than 42,000 farmers across six communities in Senegal and since 2020 has saved more than 135,000 tonnes of onions and potatoes (worth more than $146 million). I3S has further plans to expand to the Gambia.
Anatoli Kirigwajjo, founder of Ugandan security innovation YUNGA, was the winner of the 2023 Africa Prize. YUNGA is a community security network that connects neighbours to one another and to the police through low-cost devices and a mobile application, enabling communities to send emergency alerts and coordinate rapid responses, even in areas without internet access. Since winning the Prize, YUNGA has grown from serving 400 households to more than 6,000, helped prevent more than 1,000 reported crime incidents, expanded into South Africa, and established strategic partnerships with private security companies and government institutions.
Who is eligible and how to apply
The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation invites applications from both individuals and teams based in sub-Saharan Africa who are currently developing scalable engineering solutions with clear potential to deliver social or environmental impact. Applicants must be fluent in English, with the lead applicant aged 18 or over and both a citizen of, and living in, a sub-Saharan African country. Innovations should be at an early stage of commercialisation and supported by a robust business plan demonstrating a credible path to growth. Hardware-based entries are required to present a working prototype alongside evidence of customer interest, while software or app-based innovations must show a functional minimum viable product and demonstrable user traction. Applicants are also expected to submit supporting materials, including a letter of endorsement, a technical schematic and an image of the innovation.
Applications for Cycle 13 of the Prize open on 13 July and will close on 8 September. The Prize utilises a two-stage application process to streamline submissions for both applicants and reviewers. Interested candidates must apply within this window to be considered for the 2027 shortlist.
