Egyptian energy innovation wins $100,000 Innovation Prize for Africa

Egyptian Aly El-Shafei has won the ultimate prize of $100,000 for his energy innovation at the 2017 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) in Ghana’s capital Accra.

His Smart Electro-Mechanical Actuator Journal Integrated Bearing (SEMAJIB), is a world-class solution that supports energy generating turbines and can be used to improve efficiency and reduce costs of generating energy in Africa.

Aly El-Shafei was awarded the grand prize out of 10 nominees selected from over 2500 applications on Wednesday at the sixth edition of the IPA organised by the African Innovation Foundation (AIF).

HE The President of #Ghana NAkufoAddo and JClaudeBastos, founder of AfrInnovFdn announce the winner of #IPA2017 pic.twitter.com/DtzmSgJxdX

— IPA Prize (IPAprize) July 18, 2017

The second prize of $25,000 was awarded to Philippa Ngaju Makobore of Uganda for her Electronically Controlled Gravity Feed Infusion Set (ECGF) designed to accurately administer intravenous (IV) fluids and drugs by controlling the rate of fluid flow based on feedback from a drop sensor.

The Special Prize for Social Impact worth $25,000 went to Dougbeh-Chris Nyan of Liberia for his rapid test that can detect and simultaneously differentiate at least three to seven infections at the same time.

“AIF has rewarded IPA 2017 for developing solutions that can truly add value to the lives of Africans, and I believe that these innovations have incredible commercial potential and will succeed in attracting the right investments to go to the next stage,” said the founder of AIF, Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais.

The other seven nominees were presented with a $5,000 voucher each to be used to further develop their innovations.

For the first time in the history of the awards, the nominees included innovators from Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Zimbabwe.