Addis ababa: The greater competitive advantage of Africa lies in the energy, adaptability, and broader thinking of African young innovators across sectors, African Union Commission Deputy Chairperson Selma Malika Haddadi said.
According to Ethiopian News Agency, the African Union Innovation Festival 2025 (AU InnoFest’25), themed ‘Repositioning the African Union for Youth-Centered Innovation Leadership’, is taking place from October 22 to 24, 2025, at the AU premises in Addis Ababa. In her opening remarks, Haddadi emphasized that innovation and digitalization are crucial drivers of job creation, economic transformation, and effective service delivery that address Africa’s priorities.
The theme of AU InnoFest’25 resonates deeply with the continent’s aspirations for locally relevant solutions crafted by Africans, for Africans, and fueled by Africa’s unique context, she added. Innovation is vital and has always been central to Agenda 2063, a roadmap for leveraging innovation to propel Africa’s transformation, a
chieve self-reliance, and compete on the global stage, the Deputy Chairperson noted. She pointed out that AU’s vision of an innovation-driven Africa is powered by youth, creativity, entrepreneurship, and digital transformation, forming the cornerstone of the continent’s innovation narrative.
Africa’s competitive advantage lies in the energy, adaptability, and broad thinking of young innovators across diverse sectors, she noted. According to Haddadi, from agriculture to fintech, health, and civic technology, young Africans are crafting solutions that are reshaping government operations, enhancing community connections, and creating new opportunities. The African Union recognizes that equipping youth with the right tools, skills, and platforms is not merely an act of inclusion but also a vital investment in Africa’s collective future, she stressed, adding that the future will be shaped by those who intimately understand the challenges and potential of the continent.
In this regard, initiatives such as the AU
Digital and Innovation Fellowship have successfully integrated young innovators into AU departments, fostering collaboration to co-create impactful solutions. On her part, Women, Gender, and Youth Director at AU Commission, Prudence Ngwenya, described AU InnoFest’25 as a transformative call to action, emphasizing AU’s commitment to harnessing innovation for tangible and scalable solutions that improve the lives of Africans, particularly women and youth. She emphasized that the festival serves as a crucial platform for young innovators to enhance their roles in Africa’s transformation efforts, underscoring the significance of engaging youth in innovation. Ngwenya pointed out that the theme of the festival calls for all stakeholders to strategically consider how to engage and co-create with Africa’s young innovators.