Startups in energy, water space could win a spot at African Utility Week

Water and energy management are two of the biggest issues facing the African continent right now. And in order to solve them, innovators and entrepreneurs need to find ways of disrupting the status quo.

In a bid to identify those pioneers, African Utility Week has announced its Innovation Hub, which will give 20 startups and young innovators the chance to show off their projects at the 3-day conference, to be held in Cape Town between 17 and 19 May.

“Innovation and entrepreneurship form the lifeblood of any economy and the energy and water sectors need this more than ever” says Evan Schiff, African Utility Week event director, adding “and our Innovation Hub will gather the brightest minds and ideas and partner them with the right people to take their projects to the next level and out into the world where they can make a real difference.”

As well as a free exhibition stand within the Innovation Hub area for the duration of the conference, the winners will be able to showcase their developments or inventions through live presentations.

According to a press release sent to Ventureburn, they will benefit not only from the Innovation Hub conference sessions but also from industry incumbents, VC funders, project developers, incubators and the 6000+ visitors at African Utility Week who they get to interact with.

“Innovation is often associated with development of new hardware and equipment technology”, says Helmut Hertzog, General Manager, Seda Atlantis Renewable Energy Business Incubator (SAREBI) and a speaker at the upcoming Innovation Hub in Cape Town. He explains: “developing new innovation in hardware is extremely expensive… Innovative payment and financing models abound the world over, there is very little space for new innovation here.”

Addressing where the real need for innovation lies, he explains that, in his view, the key question is why so few South Africans adopt simple technologies like domestic solar water heating to start with? Why do so many rural communities shun clean off grid power solutions? Perhaps the single biggest innovation required is to find ways for the consumer market to actually adopt and desire simple proven technologies”.

Entry forms for the competition can be found online.