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#Africa4Future accelerator seeks aviation start-ups

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 02 Nov 2018
Finalists of the 2017 edition of the #Africa4Future accelerator.
Finalists of the 2017 edition of the #Africa4Future accelerator.

European aeronautic defence and space company Airbus is calling on African tech start-ups that have developed solutions related to unmanned logistics and remote sensing technology, to enter the second edition of the Africa accelerator programme, #Africa4Future.

Africa4Future is a joint accelerator undertaking between Airbus global aerospace accelerator BizLab and Make-IT in Africa, an initiative by the German Agency for International Cooperation.

Launched in 2017, with the objective to encourage and support entrepreneurship in Africa, it seeks to build bridges between the aerospace industry and the different players in Africa.

Ten African tech start-ups that are actively working on solutions related to unmanned logistics, including automation and drones, electrification, blockchain, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and material composites and manufacturing will be selected to participate in the six-month accelerator programme.

Implemented by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology and innovation consultancy Innocircle Consortium, it entails two bootcamps in Africa and one in Europe, with international aerospace experts.

The participants receive intense technical and business development support, and opportunities to become an Airbus supplier.

"The call for start-ups took place during the release of 'The Great Enabler: Aerospace in Africa', a white paper on the role of aerospace technologies and their impact on socio-economic development in Africa," notes Ellen Fischat, co-founder of Innocircle.

"The prize is a one-week trip where the winning start-up will exhibit their technology at the International Paris Air Show 2019 from 19 until 23 June and at the CeBIT Exhibition in Hanover from 24 to 26 June."

Last year's winner was South African entrepreneur Spencer Horne, founder of logistics start-up Cloudline.

Cloudline is an early stage unmanned aviation start-up that brings essential goods to people in remote, hard-to-reach places. It utilises autonomous airships to bridge the infrastructural gap faced by a billion people on the African continent, by sustainably carrying large payloads into areas that have no paved roads or runways.

Start-ups have until 30 November to submit their applications.

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