Founded in Marseille by Samir ABDELKRIM, author of “Startup Lions, at the heart of African Tech”, and placed under the high patronage of the President of the Republic Emmanuel MACRON in 2018 and 2021, EMERGING Valley has become the international summit where key tech and innovative entrepreneurship stakeholders from Africa and Europe put their heads together.
This sixth edition is taking place on November 28 and 29 at the Palais du Pharo in Marseille within an unprecedented and particularly pressing international context. “The geopolitical and environmental situation has never been so fragile; this is why now, more than ever, innovative companies need to unite and accelerate their development to have a genuine impact on essential issues such as digital, food and energy sovereignty,” comments Samir ABDELKRIM, founder of EMERGING Valley. “This is also why EMERGING Valley is has revamped itself this year to develop its themes and explore new challenges linked to Afro-European co-innovation. It will also be hosting several prestigious highlights to promote the most promising high-impact projects. 2022 shall be a pivotal year where the world must come together to reinvent itself, and above all build projects together! EMERGING Valley 2022 will be one of the decisive events”.
The latest hot topics at EMERGING Valley 2022
The EMERGING Valley program will focus on several key themes, some of which are new, with a common emphasis on co-innovation and co-sovereignty:
- Energy and digital sovereignty: how can we ensure “clean” energy security thanks to digital innovations from Africa, while adapting to geopolitical hinderances that disrupt supply chains. In partnership with the FDA, this theme will be developed during the plenary sessions and highlighted by many innovative start-ups.
- Food and agri-tech sovereignty: in an unstable geopolitical and climatic context where shortages loom, how can we respond to food and nutrition issues for the populations of Africa and the world with agritech? This theme is supported by the Departmental Council of the Bouches du Rhône and ties in with issues such as supplies running out and food sovereignty. We want to make Provence an innovation lab to help develop sustainable solutions.
- Climate neutral cities: winner of the European “100 carbon neutral cities by 2030” label, Marseille will be the crossroads where African youth and tech ecosystems meet to act in favour of decarbonising cities.
- Female entrepreneurship: ever increasingly, the future of African Tech is being written by the continent’s female entrepreneurs, particularly in the Mediterranean, who are especially creative and strong-minded.
- Co-innovation in e-Health: interdependence and digital solidarity between Africa and Europe on medical and health-related issues. In partnership with the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis.
- Innovation funding: for the 6th year in a row, EMERGING Valley 2022 will be welcoming high-impact entrepreneurs from the Social & Inclusive Business Camp – a program driven by the French Development Agency, designed to build the capacities of its winners about the key topics of scaling up and connect them to a large network of international investors that will be attending the event.
Other highlights at EMERGING Valley 2022 include two prestigious awards:
- MED’INNOVANT AFRICA Prize: after a break in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Euroméditerranée Public Development Establishment is relaunching the third edition of the MED’INNOVANT AFRICA competition “The informal city, innovating for sustainable Mediterranean and African territories”. The awards ceremony will take place on November 29, 2022 on EMERGING Valley’s main stage.
- Provence Africa Connect: third edition of the Provence Africa Connect prize, which will honour an entrepreneur from the Aix-Marseille-Provence region for developing an exemplary project for Africa.
Aix-Marseille-Provence: the hub that connects the two continents through innovation
Due to its geographical position which naturally places it at the epicentre of exchanges between the two shores of the Mediterranean, the Aix-Marseille-Provence territory plays a historic and central role between Africa and Europe. EMERGING Valley celebrates this unique territory by organising the great annual highlight where Marseille brings together all of Africa’s innovation, to speak to the world and scale up one topic in particular: co-innovation!
The detailed program of EMERGING Valley 2022 will be unveiled after the summer. But you can already book November 28 and 29 in your diary and follow us on social networks!
