EMERGING Valley: advocacy for the 2022 European Union – African Union summit

The 5th edition of Emerging Valley, the Euro-African tech meeting, resulted in a series of debates and ideas to make African innovation a hot topic at the next EU-AU summit.

By the editorial staff

Under the patronage of French President Emmanuel Macron, the EMERGING Valley international summit took place on December 14. This rich and inspiring day helped identify levers to strengthen economic and technological collaboration and create synergies between Europe and Africa to benefit populations, biodiversity, territories and fund innovation. This will be an integral part of the advocacy for the 2022 summit between the European Union and the African Union.

Organised in a hybrid format due to the health context (the number of live participants at the Palais du Pharo in Marseille was limited to 30%) EMERGING Valley successfully rallied a large number of private and public stakeholders in African innovation with numerous African and French ministers, European Union representatives, international investors and startups turning up to debate and reflect together.

“EMERGING Valley wants to make Marseille the merging point between the twin continents of Europe and Africa”

“EMERGING Valley wants to make Marseille the merging point between the twin continents of Europe and Africa”. This is how Samir ABDELKRIM, founder of EMERGING Valley and master of ceremonies, opened the 5th edition of EMERGING Valley. This set the tone of the session: Innovation at the heart of transforming the relationship between Africa and Europe: advocacy for the 2022 Europe – Africa summit, under the French presidency of the E.U. 

At a time when both Africa and Europe seem to be emerging from the throes of the COVID-19 crisis, it is time to pave the way for new relationships between our two continents. Afro-European tech decision-makers clearly stated how important digital technology is within the Africa-Europe partnership. A partnership, “that is up to facing the demographic growth of Africa” said Roger ADOM, Ivorian Minister of the Digital Economy, Telecommunications and Innovation. “The previous Africa season was highly disrupted but events were maintained, showing the creativity of the African continent in the field of arts, tech and economics and was followed by nearly 4 million people” explained Erol Ok. “We must trust civil societies which are capable of a dynamic that helps empower young people, creates jobs and supports collaboration between African and European stakeholders!”

« However, with the approach of the European Union-African Union Summit, we must rebalance the dialogue, formalise “African know-how” and show that a win-win partnership is feasible ”

However, with the approach of the European Union-African Union Summit, we must rebalance the dialogue, formalise “African know-how” and show that a win-win partnership is feasible concludes Samir ABDELKRIM. “During these 54 sessions, many ideas were put forward to show that Africa is now a global hub that other countries in the world would do well to include in their business strategies. Our various speakers also showed how African innovation can be a driving force in solving the planet’s challenges. Many national and pan-African issues are yet to be resolved, but the interest of the international community and the largest investment funds show that a paradigm shift is taking place. On the success of such a rich and fruitful day, we are advocating for African innovation to be included in the discussions at the next summit between the European Union and the African Union.”

All of the session replays are available on the EMERGING Valley website.