Towards ACOEDI 2026 Talk Show Examines Africa's Research-to-Production Gap

IfEDI Africa will host the next session of the Towards ACOEDI 2026 Talk Show on Wednesday, 19 August 2026 from 18:30–20:00. The Wednesday evening dialogue series brings together researchers, professionals, policymakers, entrepreneurs and industry leaders to examine the critical questions that will shape Africa's economic development and innovation agenda.

The upcoming session will take place under the topic:

Can Africa Innovate Without Producing?

Connecting Research, Technology, Startups and Industrial Capacity

The session will examine a difficult but necessary question: can Africa achieve meaningful economic transformation if its research, technologies and startup ideas do not translate into productive enterprises, industries and regional value chains?

Africa continues to generate research, ideas, prototypes, technologies and promising startups. However, many innovations struggle to move beyond academic publication, pilot programmes, grant-funded projects or early-stage business development. The connection between research institutions, technology developers, entrepreneurs, investors, government procurement systems and established industry often remains weak.

As a result, African knowledge may generate the initial idea while the production, ownership, industrial learning and economic value associated with that idea are captured elsewhere.

Production in this discussion means more than factory assembly. It includes the ability to design, engineer, prototype, test, certify, manufacture, deploy, maintain and scale technologies, products and services. Innovation becomes economically meaningful when it solves real problems repeatedly, reaches viable markets and contributes to productivity, employment, value addition, exports or improved public services.

The discussion will consider what is required to connect Africa's research and innovation systems to productive capacity. This includes stronger technology-transfer arrangements, testing and certification facilities, commercialisation skills, appropriate finance, reliable infrastructure, public and private procurement, industrial partnerships and institutions capable of managing the journey from research to production.

The answer is not for every African country to manufacture everything. Such an approach could fragment markets, duplicate scarce infrastructure and protect uncompetitive production. The practical question is what should be produced nationally, what should be developed through regional specialisation and shared capacity, and what can be sourced globally without weakening Africa's ability to learn, adapt and compete.

The discussion will feature Dr Albert Jeleni, ACOEDI 2026 Convener and CEO of IfEDI Africa, as host, with guest speakers Ms Galetlolwe Semenya, Founder and Managing Director of GSemenya Consultancy and Associates, and Dr Nicholus Obby Mainza, Chief Agricultural Economist at the Ministry of Agriculture and National Secretary of the Economics Association of Zambia.

Ms Semenya is expected to contribute an enterprise, startup and commercialisation perspective. Her contribution will consider why promising African innovations often stall between pilot and repeatable production, and how market validation, management capability, finance, procurement access, partnerships and supply chains can help African enterprises move towards scale.

Dr Mainza will contribute an agriculture, economic policy and industrial-capacity perspective. Agriculture provides a practical example of the need to connect research institutions, producers, agribusinesses, processors and manufacturers. His contribution will consider how advances in agricultural research, inputs, machinery, processing, logistics and market systems can become locally and regionally produced economic value.

The talk forms part of IfEDI Africa's broader work to professionalise economic development and innovation practice across the continent. Productive innovation requires more than technology and funding. It requires professionals with credible competencies and institutions capable of managing research translation, commercialisation, industrial projects, standards, procurement and measurable development outcomes.

Through ACOEDI 2026, IfEDI Africa is working to connect research, policy, professional practice and implementation. The resulting knowledge will contribute to outputs including the African Economic Development and Innovation Atlas, the industry and implementation magazine, and the planned academic journal.

The Atlas will help benchmark Africa's research, innovation and productive capacity. The Magazine will document practical implementation experiences and lessons, while the planned Journal will strengthen the peer-reviewed evidence available to policymakers, industry and development institutions.

Members of the public, researchers, policymakers, entrepreneurs, startup founders, investors, industrialists, development practitioners, students and institutions are invited to join the dialogue and participate in shaping the road towards ACOEDI 2026.