ACCESS IDEAS COMPETITIONS

The ACCESS Ideas Competition Hub is a platform that has hosted various ideas competitions over the past five years. Following two major branches of competition, we engaged in an array of subjects, fields, and sectors to further our basic objective. These contests share a similar goal of involving key stakeholders such as educators, researchers, administrators, students, and graduates in order to generate practical solutions to persistent challenges faced by African higher education institutions. The competitions aim to inspire long-term solutions by encouraging cooperation and innovation within the system while also recognizing possibilities to maximize the potential of its individuals and their institutions. 

We believe competitions provide an easy path for passionate people to interact with one another. They can provide an opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas before developing them into actual applications that can then be implemented within the system. To assist with the overall project’s goal, we opted for two main competitions that cover different approaches to innovation:

The “University of Ideas” competition aims to identify and develop ideas that are intended to improve the higher education system, from the lectures they provide to the skillsets they teach and the infrastructure they maintain. Based on subjects such as university business linkages, career enhancement, and technology and knowledge transfer, we hope to activate the most relevant stakeholders in analyzing and working on tangible challenges. We are helping them connect with like-minded people and administrative contacts at our partner universities to facilitate the swift transformation of ideas. 

The other branch focuses on business competitions, which encourage students, researchers, and university professors to use their findings to develop a business or startup. A competition with the objective of leveraging the knowledge and potential that universities have to offer in order to develop employment opportunities and the direct transfer of innovation into emerging economies. Both seek to improve the ability of African universities and research institutions by creating conditions that allow educational practices to meet social and economic needs. We seek to encourage new ideas, assist participants, and link them with like-minded supporters within and outside of institutions.