INNOVATION – ANIMA capitalises on the success of THE NEXT SOCIETY initiative to implement new programmes

2 million euros raised by startups supported by ANIMA’s acceleration programmes; more than ten awards granted by international juries in 2019 alone: achievements that have been made possible by the action of ANIMA’s members and partners committed to innovation in the Mediterranean!

Strengthened by these successful achievements, the association will intensify in 2020 the networking of innovation actors between Europe and the Mediterranean through THE NEXT SOCIETY initiative supported by the European Commission. The 2020 action plan includes international support for a third promotion of Mediterranean start-ups; a new programme for research-industry collaboration for innovation in the Mediterranean, the “Tech Booster”; a regional cycle of advocacy workshops involving public decision-makers and the private sector to set up the most effective institutional arrangements for innovation; and a programme of collaboration between accelerators from Europe, Mediterranean and Africa launched at the EMERGING Valley in Aix-en-Provence in December 2019.

THE NEXT SOCIETY is a movement initiated by ANIMA and 30 partners in 7 Southern Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia) and 7 European countries (Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, United Kingdom, Slovenia) in 2017. It aims to strengthen and network the innovation ecosystems of Europe and the Mediterranean in order to foster the emergence of new generations of innovators who develop concrete entrepreneurial solutions in response to the challenges of sustainable development in the region, and to structure advocacy for a legal framework that encourages innovative companies.

In order to provide a better service to the needs of the beneficiaries and to integrate the observations made by the consortium after 2 years of implementation, ANIMA is launching new activities with the will to extend the movement to new actors and new countries.

A movement that brings out the new leaders of Mediterranean entrepreneurship

Three start-ups supported by DiafrikInvest and THE NEXT SOCIETY programmes led by ANIMA have been distinguished in recent weeks by two international juries. The Moroccan company Green Watech, winner of the Mare Nostrum Prize for La Méditerranée du Futur, is developing an innovative low-tech solution for liquid sanitation in rural areas; Senegal’s SEN Or’Dur, whose comprehensive waste management solution won the MedInnovant Africa Prize given by the Euroméditerranée Public Development Establishment at EMERGING Valley, and Algeria’s Citylocker, also a finalist for Medinnovant Africa thanks to its smart relay point connected to a mobile application. 

These entrepreneurs complete the list of thirteen young growth companies from North Africa, Senegal and the Middle East supported by THE NEXT SOCIETY and DiafrikInvest initiatives, whose innovations have been distinguished in 2019 during international competitions in France, Germany or the United States.

“These awards, which reflect the quality of the partner organisations mobilised around ANIMA to identify and support good projects, validate the conviction supported by our network that the innovation of Mediterranean and African start-ups provides effective responses to the challenges of sustainable development in our countries and beyond. As proof, in two years, our programmes have already enabled supported entrepreneurs to mobilise €1.9M of investment. ” expresses Abdelkader Betari, President of the ANIMA Investment Network.

A factory of solutions for sustainable and inclusive development in the Mediterranean

“A good entrepreneur who carries the right project, positioned on the right market and in the right timing; who is able to find the necessary resources, and to execute his plan, that’s a lot of risks”, pointed out Emmanuel Noutary, ANIMA’s General Delegate, during a plenary session of EMERGING Valley, an event aimed at connecting actors from the Aix Marseille area and the African Tech scene and which was held in early December in Aix-en-Provence. “We need to be able to disconnect the search for leaders from the emergence of projects, and connect high-potential entrepreneurs with the right projects”.

On this occasion, ANIMA organised a solution-making workshop on the theme: “Leveraging organic innovation to access African markets”, in partnership with thecamp. This workshop brought together the first 15 winners of the Tech Booster, a programme of THE NEXT SOCIETY initiative aimed at bringing “Made in the Mediterranean” innovation closer to large companies. Alongside these 15 technology start-ups from the southern and eastern Mediterranean region, the 15 winners were joined by partner companies from the Club THE NEXT SOCIETY (Verdi Ingénierie), the EMUL Club of the Euroméditerranée Public Development Agency (EPA) (Engie, Cemex, Grand Port Maritime de Marseille) and thecamp (Accenture, SNCF), as well as the City of Marseille, the EPA Euroméditerranée, experts and innovation hubs.

The format of the workshop made it possible to mobilise the expertise and network of the participants to respond to the issues formulated by each one, while at the same time bringing out topics for collaboration between start-ups, large companies and local authorities. The themes identified ranged from the treatment of industrial sludge to the analysis of olive oil, via intelligent virtual agents for sign language or the culture of aquatic microorganisms. 

“We offer researchers a very similar path to our programmes for accelerating start-ups,” comments Zoé Luçon, ANIMA’s Tech Booster coordinator, a support programme for researchers and tech entrepreneurs oriented towards business creation and promotion towards industry in the 7 southern Mediterranean countries associated with THE NEXT SOCIETY. “It starts with a preparation and selection bootcamp, then individual support focused on the marketing of the project, and finally meetings with major principals or investors”. The next Tech Booster meetings are scheduled to take place in Tunis on January 29th during the Tech Days, then in Rabat on February 14th during the Startup Africa Summit, and in Ramallah the following week.

New services to connect accelerators from Europe – Mediterranean – Africa

THE NEXT SOCIETY also launched two new services at EMERGING Valley for start-up accelerators and innovation clusters, during a matinée of meetings between organisations from Europe, the Mediterranean and Africa co-organised by THE NEXT SOCIETY, the European Commission’s DG Research and the Aix-Marseille French Tech network.

This session, which brought together nearly sixty accelerators representing 17 countries, made it possible to organize 180 individual meetings.

Mathias Fillon, coordinator of THE NEXT SOCIETY, presented during this session the soft landing scheme launched in partnership with the Maghreb Start-Up Network initiated by the World Bank. The aim is to enable entrepreneurs from the southern shore of the Mediterranean to experience another market through a short expatriation within an accelerator of another country. An exchange programme between accelerator managers will also facilitate the sharing of experience between the poles on the southern shore of the Mediterranean and thus strengthen their collaboration on a regional scale.