Deadline: August 31, 2026
Applications are open for the 3rd Edition of the Innovate Africa Challenge 2026. The Innovate Africa Challenge, organized jointly by the Smart Africa and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a continental initiative aimed at accelerating the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to address climate and agricultural challenges in Africa.
The 2026 edition is themed “From Ideation to Deployment”, emphasizing the transition from innovative concepts to practical and scalable solutions that deliver measurable benefits to farmers.
Focus Areas
The challenge will place particular emphasis on solutions addressing:
- Precision agriculture and input optimization to improve resource efficiency and reduce environmental impact;
- Crop yield prediction and forecasting to support proactive planning and food security;
- Pest and disease surveillance, detection, and early warning; enabling timely responses and minimizing losses;
- Climate risk modeling and adaptive decision support, to strengthen resilience to climate variability and shocks; and
- Water and natural resource optimization.
Eligibility
- Open to startups, innovators, and solution developers actively developing or deploying AI-driven solutions for climate-smart agriculture.
- Applicants must demonstrate not only technological maturity but also a strong commitment to strengthening the innovation ecosystem, contributing to measurable impact, and showcasing viable pathways to scaling and financial sustainability.
- This call is only open for applicants coming from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda.
Expected Solution Capabilities
Participating startups are expected to demonstrate solutions that produce reliable, actionable outputs for farmers, extension services, or agricultural institutions.
The proposed solution should demonstrate the ability to operate effectively in environments characterized by:
- Smallholder and informal farming systems;
- Partial, incomplete, or low-frequency datasets;
- Mobile-first and low-connectivity settings;
- Multi-language and heterogeneous data environments;
- Diverse agro-ecological zones and farming practices;
- Integration with national extension and ministry systems.
Application
For more information, visit Innovate Africa Challenge.
