INNOVATION FUND ROUND 4/2015 IS NOW OPEN (Tanzania)
Please read the following information carefully before filling the Application Form!
INNOVATION FUND 4th ROUND – jointly organized by COSTECH AND TANZICT
The Innovation Fund has been set up with the support of the TANZICT-project, which is a bilateral project between the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology of Tanzania, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.
This time the Innovation Fund is opened for two categories:
- Novel Technology Products and Services
- New Social Innovations*
(*Social Innovation refers to solutions, which help communities and people in their everyday life. Social innovations aims to solve public challenges; e.g. education, health, transportation, micro-credits etc. Social entrepreneurship is typically non-profit business, or major part of profits will be channeled for community’s good. Also, projects which improve different organizations’ capacity to serve innovators can be categorized into this.)
RULES FOR BOTH CATEGORY APPLICATIONS
Please read the following information carefully before filling the Application Form!
The objective of the Innovation Fund is to fund implementation of innovative, commercially viable ideas, which when realized, will address specific social and economic needs which exist in Tanzania. The fund focuses on getting new products and services to demo, prototype or pilot phase. Also, the business side is emphasized; and as a part of successful project there should be market research, customer feedback and/or user tests conducted. The fund is managed by COSTECH in collaboration with TANZICT.
The Innovation Fund strongly recommends applicants to work with one of the Tanzanian organizations supporting the innovators and entrepreneurs. These are incubators or hubs existing in the country, such as Dar Teknohama Business Incubator, SIDO incubators, university incubators, AISE!, KINU or Buni members, living labs around the country etc. The applicants should be hosted at such institutions capable of supporting them and monitoring their progress and applicants must attach written document from their incubation manager or mentor providing proof of the relationship or program participation. The supporting organization must be prepared to co-sign the grant agreement and to share with applicant the responsibility of ensuring the grant will be spent correctly and results reported.
It is possible for an applicant to receive a grant even when they are not in collaboration with supporting organization, however these will be rare exceptions. Your chances of receiving a grant are better if you have a supporting organization.
All applications must be submitted online via the form which will appear here when the call is open.
Applications are processed by an evaluation committee composed of members from COSTECH, TANZICT and private sector. The total amount of the grant to support the submitted application will be decided by the evaluation team. Each application will be dealt separately depending on its milestones and challenges. The expected maximum grant sum will be around 20 000 000 TSH for one applicant, and they may be granted only part of what they apply. In exceptions the granted amounts can be larger.
It should be understood that this is a competitive fund and not all applicants will be funded. No funding will be provided for pre-submission activities. Applicants invited to an interview who are coming from outside of Dar es Salaam may contact TANZICT for request for travel support before the actual travel. Travel budget has to be agreed with TANZICT beforehand in writing. There will be no other payments or compensations for applying or for interviewing.
Full details of the Innovation Fund are available in the Guidelines Document. All successful applicants will also be required to sign the Grant contract (pdf) before any disbursements.
The two categories are defined in details below.
- Innovation Fund for Novel Technology Products and Services
A diverse range of innovative ideas might be funded but at least the following qualities will be considered:
- Is the idea novel?
- Does it address an existing problem in Tanzania?
- Is the potential market well understood and well informed?
- Does the idea have high potential for scaling up?
- Are the milestones for implementation of the prototype feasible?
- Can the idea use the existing infrastructure?
- Does the team have technical and commercial capability to implement the idea?
In addition to solving market needs and existing problems all ideas are expected to generate income to sustain a business venture.
- Innovation Fund for New Social Innovations
In addition to the first category TANZICT has opened Innovation Fund for ideas that are focused on high-impact generation in the local society. We are searching for ideas that benefit local communities or the nation as a whole. In addition to the qualities mentioned in the first category, you should be able to answer if your idea:
- Improves the quality of life of average Tanzanians?
- Enables people to learn better or live longer?
- Helps others to work more efficient or create new things and ideas easier?
- Is capable on transferring experience of Tanzanians? Can it make people happier?
- Empower local communities & people to create solutions on their own specific problems?
- Makes our local environment safer or cleaner? Cleaner water? Better sanitary options?
- Improve local organizations’ capacity to help and support innovators?
In addition to solving market needs and existing problems all ideas are expected to generate income to sustain a business venture. With this new category idea or company does not need to be for-profit but income should keep the venture afloat.
Deadline for applications is 23:59PM, 15th of May 2015.
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