Open Innovation : accelerating collaboration between SMEs and startups in Africa

By Yousra Gouja

On the continent, a new dynamic is emerging — more pragmatic, more inclusive, closer to the ground. Today, the challenge is not to replicate a foreign model but to invent an African innovation model, adapted to the realities of the continent: a model where startups do not just create technologies but solve local problems; where SMEs see innovation as a competitiveness catalyst; where the State becomes a facilitator. Open Innovation connects the challenges of SMEs, institutions, and the public sector to concrete technological solutions developed by startups.

In a context where innovation cycles are long, R&D budgets are limited, and internal teams sometimes lack technological skills, this model becomes a major strategic lever. It allows access to already operational technologies, rapid testing through pilots and POCs, cost and risk reduction through pooling, and the creation of win-win collaborations between startups, SMEs, public institutions, and investors.

A Fertile Ground for Open Innovation Confirmed by Record Funding

Africa is consolidating its rise on the global innovation stage. In 2025, African startups raised over $3 billion, with nearly $988 million invested in the third quarter and $1.35 billion in the first half of the year, marking a 78% increase compared to 2024. Funding focuses particularly on clean technologies, AI, and digital solutions — key sectors for collaborations between SMEs and startups. This trend demonstrates that the continent now has an ecosystem capable of supporting Open Innovation and generating a tangible impact on business competitiveness.

Tunisia: A Continental Co-Innovation Laboratory

Tunisia embodies this transformation. It is not just a country where innovation emerges: it is becoming a hub where new forms of collaboration are structured, tested, and modeled. GIZ Tunisia brings together actors — industrial companies, tech startups, consulting firms like Deloitte, public actors, investors, and incubators — to transform innovation into measurable value. The AI RISE program, launched in 2023, validated the approach, followed by a second edition in 2025 focused on Industry 4.0 and applied AI.

But innovation is not limited to technology. A key step is helping companies clarify their needs. “Startups know what they can do — but SMEs do not always know what to ask for,” explains Aicha Mezghani, Senior Manager at Deloitte. As Hichem Abdennadher, Component Head for Industry 4.0 and AI at GIZ Tunisia, points out: “In Sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is more complex, as the industrial fabric remains limited beyond a few large groups.”

Technological Language: The First Barrier to Overcome

In many African countries, many SMEs have neither an innovation department nor a digital strategy, sometimes not even a technological framework. Open Innovation does not aim to copy Silicon Valley but to create a pragmatic African model, collaborative and adapted to industrial needs. “It’s not that the solution isn’t good — it’s that the company and the startup don’t speak the same language,” says Hatem Haddad, President of Entrepreneurs Without Borders.

Initiatives such as Open Startup Africa (OST) or the partnership with Bpifrance create a common language, a reproducible collaboration framework, and foster the emergence of a strong ecosystem. As Houda Ghozzi, founder of Open Startup, summarizes: “We are aware that France remains a reference market for African startups. This partnership is a culmination of our desire to continue innovating together, but above all a mission to help write a new story for Africa and its innovators.”

Africa is no longer catching up with the world: it is building an innovation model of its own — one that the world will soon observe, learn from, and sometimes adopt.