African innovators in digital music, web creation, virtual reality (VR), video games and animation better listen up. French backed incubation platform Digital Lab Africa (DLA) will start taking entries for the third edition of its incubation programme from next week Thursday (15 November).
DLA — set up by the French embassy and French Institute in South Africa (IFAS) in 2016 and is managed by Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct with the support of the French Development Agency (AFD) — made the announcement in a statement yesterday.
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The initiative aims to provide a springboard for the creators of next-generation content with the support of French and Sub-Saharan African companies such as Triggerfish Animation, Arte, Trace and Lagardère Studios.
Digital Lab Africa programme participants will receive a R42 000 cash prize and a Digital Lab Africa Incubation Pass to accelerate their projects’ development
Innovators in digital music, web creation, virtual reality, video games and animation can apply to join DLA.
The call is open to producers, startups and students from Sub-Saharan Africa. Foreign nationals looking to apply have to ensure that their project is mostly implemented locally.
DLA is looking for projects at initial stage of development, in need of partners and financial support and innovative in terms of narration, content or technologies.
Selected projects will receive a R42 000 cash prize and a Digital Lab Africa Incubation Pass to accelerate their projects’ development. In addition, the innovators will be mentored by both French and African experts to ensure they benefit from the expertise of several ecosystems.
Alongside the mentorship programme, DLA mentees take part in residency programmes within digital clusters and also participate in industry events in France or in Sub-Saharan African region.
DLA said the aim of the programme is to help participants to produce market-ready content or productions that showcase African creativity at its best.
During the second edition, DLA received over 700 entries from over 30 Sub-Saharan African countries. Since the beginning of the initiative, 15 projects from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia have been awarded and incubated by DLA.
Read more: AFD to invest R14.5m in Tshimologong’s new Digital Content Hub
Featured image: Digital Lab Africa via Facebook
