Africa: The Next Frontier in Innovation 3.0 with Purpose

To inspire new audiences in Africa with new experiences and a new perception of SAP, more than 1,000 entrepreneurs, investors, digital marketers, and creatives from across Africa and the world heard a clear message from SAP Next-Gen on the main stage at the Ghana Tech Summit last month in Accra, Ghana.

'We are on a mission to make quality education available to all; to empower women and girls as leaders for a gender equal future; and to globally scale entrepreneurial communities working on solutions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals,' Ann Rosenberg, senior vice president and global head of SAP Next-Gen, told leaders from startups, accelerators, venture firms, NGOs, and purpose driven institutions. 'Africa is the next frontier in Innovation 3.0, and I inspire you to 'innovate with purpose. Join the SAP Next-Gen global innovation with purpose community and be part of a movement harnessing digital technology and new innovation mindsets such as science fiction thinking to accelerate solutions to the world's most pressing social challenges,' continued Ann.

According to summit co-founder Christine Souffrant Ntim, 'The Ghana Tech Summit is a part of a 12-year initiative of the Global Startup Ecosystem, the first and largest digital accelerator that accelerates 1000 companies to market annually across 190+ countries entirely online.'

Summit co-founder Einstein Kofi Ntim added, 'With recent headlines showcasing Ghana as the fastest growing economy in Africa, the launch of Google Ai Lab, and the opening of Ghana's first Diaspora office, the Ghana Tech Summit can not only serve as an annual 3 day event alone but as a stable, consistent and highly regarded platform for tech and economic development in the country.'

SAP Next-Gen was proud to participate in the first Tech Summit in Ghana and the largest tech summit in West Africa. The summit represents a coming together of Africans to build a vibrant ecosystem working toward a common goal: innovation with purpose. It is indicative of an exciting time in Africa's development, marking Africa as the next leader in driving innovation with purpose to solve the world's greatest challenges.

Participants were inspired by SAP Next-Gen strategic programs, including #sheinnovates with UN Women, which supports the goals of the Global Innovation Coalition for Change to drive industry-wide action to make innovation and technology work better for young women and girls, as well as #sheinnovates Girls' Lounges at SAP Next-Gen Lab locations on university campuses worldwide, including the first in Africa at University of Cape Town, which opened last week. In partnership with The Female Quotient, #sheinnovates Girls' Lounges aim encourage more young women to pursue STEM education and gain skills as next-generation purpose-driven innovators who can accelerate solutions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Watch video highlights of SAP Next-Gen at the Ghana Tech Summit:

The SAP Next-Gen initiative, a purpose-driven innovation university and community aligned with SAP's commitment to the 17 UN Global Goals for sustainable development, supports SAP's more than 404,000 customers across 25 industries in more than 180 countries. The program leverages over 3,600 educational institutions in 113 countries, more than 100 SAP Next-Gen Lab spaces at universities and at partner and SAP locations, and more than 38 SAP Next-Gen Chapters, as well as startups, accelerators, tech community partners, venture firms, futurists, and purpose-driven institutions. The initiative also leverages SAP's more than 100 innovation, development, and customer experience centers and SAP's network of over 17,000 partner companies. SAP Next-Gen connects customers to academic thought leaders and researchers, students, startups, accelerators, tech community partners, purpose-driven partners, venture firms, futurists, and SAP experts to reimagine the future of industries and the intelligent enterprise, seed disruptive innovation with startups, and build skills for digital futures. Customers can benefit from services as well as events from SAP Next-Gen where digital innovators come together in an open community to foster the future of industries with the latest technologies from SAP.