Africa–Europe Innovation Platform Stakeholders Meeting: Centering Youth to Build a Resilient, Inclusive Innovation Future

The inaugural Africa–Europe Innovation Platform (AEIP) Stakeholders Meeting, held on October 22, 2025, in Brussels, marked a major milestone in strengthening cross-continental collaboration for innovation. As an active member of the AEIP consortium, The Youth Café played a strategic role, championing youth priorities, elevating voices often sidelined in high-level discussions, and reaffirming the critical role of young people in shaping resilient and inclusive innovation ecosystems.

The meeting officially launched a shared space for dialogue between policymakers, innovators, researchers, and development actors across Africa and Europe. Above all, it reinforced a collective commitment: to build an innovation landscape that is sustainable, equitable, and deeply rooted in youth participation.

Africa’s Growing Influence in the Global Innovation Landscape

The opening sessions painted a clear picture; Africa’s role in global innovation is rising, and its youth population is central to that transformation. Speakers emphasized:

1. Resilient Innovation Systems

Strong ecosystems must withstand economic, climate, and social disruptions. This means designing policies that intentionally support marginalized groups, especially young people and women, whose creativity and entrepreneurship are vital to growth.

2. Harnessing Emerging Technologies

Artificial Intelligence, digital transformation, and frontier technologies were highlighted as engines for solving uniquely African challenges. For this to be realized, youth digital skills, literacy, and tech entrepreneurship must be at the heart of investment strategies.

3. Smart, Inclusive, and Green Policies

Participants called for regulation that is forward-looking, data-driven, and climate-conscious. Such policies must lower systemic barriers for young innovators and expand opportunities across sectors.

4. Ensuring a Just Transition

From energy to manufacturing, the shift to green economies must create, not exclude, opportunities. Youth must co-shape this transition, ensuring the move to sustainability also delivers jobs, equity, and shared prosperity.

The Youth Café’s Priority Agenda: Elevating Youth Entrepreneurship

A core contribution by The Youth Café was its advocacy for operationalising youth-centred innovation, anchored in the ongoing work to develop the Youth Entrepreneurship Playbook, a practical, co-created guide for governments, private sector actors, and innovation stakeholders.

Key elements included:

Co-Creation of Policy

Policies must be designed with young people, not merely for them. The playbook aims to provide a clear roadmap for reducing regulatory bottlenecks, enhancing market access, and building enabling environments where youth-led enterprises can thrive.

Addressing Youth Financing Gaps

Participants acknowledged the persistent challenges young innovators face in securing funding, especially in early-stage, impact-driven, or nontraditional sectors. The Youth Café highlighted the need for innovative financial instruments such as blended finance, patient capital, and guarantee schemes tailored to young entrepreneurs.

Building Strong Skills and Ecosystem Connections

Beyond training, young entrepreneurs need linkages, to accelerators, universities, policymakers, investors, and cross-border markets. The AEIP “network of networks” vision is uniquely suited to provide these pathways.

Strengthening Citizen Participation: Innovation That Belongs to Everyone

The Youth Café also reinforced that innovation must be citizen-driven to be sustainable. This requires:

  • Empowering grassroots actors with skills to monitor policies, engage in advocacy, and amplify community-led innovation.

  • Bridging policy and practice, ensuring commitments made in forums translate into real, practical benefits that citizens can see and influence.

Expert Panels: Lessons from Across Continents

Afternoon panels brought together experts whose insights painted a vivid picture of the challenges and opportunities ahead:

  • Joana Alfonso (IPN) emphasized the need for strong institutional support for innovation, from incubation to commercialization.

  • Ali MNF (Digital Africa) highlighted the urgent need to support startups in underserved regions, pushing for both geographical and demographic inclusivity.

  • Efe Ukala (ImpactHer) championed the empowerment of women entrepreneurs, stressing the systemic barriers that must be addressed to close the gender financing gap.

  • Dr. Ann Kingiri (ACTS) underscored the role of African academic institutions in producing context-specific research that informs grounded, culturally relevant innovation policies.

A Shared Commitment to Inclusive Innovation

The meeting concluded with a unifying reflection: How do we build resilient systems for inclusive innovation?

For The Youth Café, the path is clear—radical inclusion and systemic empowerment of youth. The AEIP Stakeholders Meeting marks the beginning of a renewed cross-continental commitment to making youth central players in shaping the innovation future.

As we leave Brussels, we carry forward a shared resolve:
to build ecosystems where young people are not just beneficiaries, but architects—shaping a resilient, equitable, and sustainable Africa–Europe innovation landscape.