Grand Challenges Africa Round 11 Transition to Scale for Innovations Call 2
The Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID) is pleased to announce to the university community that applications are now open for Grand Challenges Africa Round 11 Transition to Scale for Innovations Call 2. The goal of this call is to catalyze scale and sustainability – so that the bold ideas we support are closer to having big impact in a sustainable manner by the end of the funding term.
Objectives
Identify the most promising innovations in the field of health and development in Africa that have gone beyond proof of concept.
Support widespread replication and/or adaptation of the innovations across large geographies and populations for transformational impact (scaling).
Promote Africa-led scientific innovations to help countries better achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by awarding Innovation Transition Grants (ITG) to the continent’s most impressive solutions. This is as a follow up to initial Innovation Seed Grants (ISG) advanced by Grand Challenges partners.
Eligibility criteria
- Non-profit organization, for-profit company, or another recognized institution that is incorporated in an eligible jurisdiction in Africa and can receive and administer funding. Please note that we must approve any changes in applicant organization from the originally-funded grant.
- Founders or PIs should be African Citizens or residents of Africa. Where there is local international ownership, applicants should have adequate control to make executive decisions about the project. They should demonstrate a strong grip on research expertise (being the PI or collaborator) and ownership of the venture.
- Previous or current grantee of various organizations including Grand Challenges family (Grand Challenges Explorations by Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Africa, USAID- Centre for Development Innovation, Grand Challenges Canada, Grand Challenges South Africa and Grand Challenges Ethiopia), other innovation incubators and accelerators and partners who align with Grand Challenges Africa priorities will be invited to recommend innovators in their pipeline to apply for the funding.
- Projects that have demonstrated proof of concept by presenting sufficient and credible evidence to substantiate that their idea has demonstrated improved health and development outcome(s) and/or the reduction of significant barrier(s) to health / development and demand for the solution in a controlled or limited setting and have a plan to transition to scale.
- Any project from the Grand Challenges Family that has a Transition-to-Scale agreement with requirement for 1:1 matching through partnerships will be eligible for this funding. The amount of funding to be awarded to such groups will be determined by the GC Africa investment committee
- Most of the applicant’s activities and budget must be carried out/spent in an eligible African country (or countries). If the nature of the proposal means that a significant amount of funding will not be spent in one of these eligible jurisdictions, applicants must provide strong reasoning and convincing arguments that ultimately the proposal will benefit people in those countries.
- A Project Lead may only be listed on one (1) application to this Request for Proposals. An institution may be the applicant on multiple applications, provided all applications have different Project Leads.
- Applications must include all required information. Only complete applications will be considered by the triage and review committees
Financing
The funding available for the various levels of Transition to scale are as follows;
- Transition to scale 1 (TTS 1)-From $100,000 to $250,000
- Transition to scale 2 (TTS 2)-From $250,001 to $500,000
- Transition to scale 3 & 4 (TTS 3 & 4) -From $500,001 to $1,000,000
Applicants are eligible to apply for a follow-on transition to scale or scaling grant with a term of up to thirty-six (36) months.
Deadline:
The deadline for submission of applications is 30th June, 2020 at 23:00 EAT.
More information:
Questions about the GC Africa Transition to Scale program or the application process can be directed to gcafrica@aasciences.africa.