World-leading wireless technology company Qualcomm has launched its African Innovation Platform, a set of mentoring, education and training programmes designed to support the development of Africa's emerging technology ecosystem.

The platform will provide resources and support to local universities, small to medium-sized startups, and grant participants, exposing them to Qualcomm engineers and its state-of-the-art suite of capabilities for mobile platforms and technologies, including 4G, 5G, IoT, AI, and machine learning.

"The Africa Innovation Platform will stimulate innovation around product development, inspire learning, fuel research, and raise awareness around the value of intellectual property across the continent," said Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president and president for Europe/Middle East and Africa at Qualcomm Europe. "At its core, Qualcomm is an R&D engine, and we are proud that this programme will simultaneously inspire the next generation of inventors, while nurturing the wider technology ecosystem."

Qualcomm representatives will engage and collaborate with governments, trade associations, and other stakeholders across the continent, including the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), to launch the Africa Innovation Platform.

"The African Telecommunications Union is a staunch supporter of innovation, and has recently initiated an innovation programme for young Africans with a projected financial value of around $400,000," said the ATU. "The ATU welcomes Qualcomm's African Innovation Initiative and, working together, looks forward to realising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), catalysing new business opportunities, and contributing to solving challenges in various sectors such as education, health, agriculture, movement, trade and government services."

Qualcomm's Innovation Platform for Africa includes a number of different programmes, but the main one from a start-up point of view is its Africa Start-up Mentoring Programme, a non-equity mentoring programme to identify promising early-stage start-ups willing to apply advanced connectivity and processing technologies to innovative end-to-end system solutions, including hardware, and provide these companies with business coaching, access to engineering consultancy for product development, and guidance on intellectual property protection.

"At Qualcomm, we have always been passionate about innovation. The African Innovation Platform is an exciting new programme that builds on our close work with governments, operators and telecom standards bodies over the past few years," said Elizabeth Migwalla, vice president and head of government affairs (Middle East and Africa) for Qualcomm International. "The programmes that make up this platform will ultimately help African companies serve markets across the continent and realise their global ambitions, further accelerating the growth of Africa's creation economy."

Applications for these programmes are now open, and details of the application process, eligibility criteria, and benefits can be found at website from Qualcomm.