AfDB Opens Applications for HEI Innovation Programme Phase II

Applications are open until November 9, 2026 for the African Development Bank's HEI Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programme Phase II. The AfDB's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab runs the free programme in partnership with EyeCity Africa, and it targets African higher education institutions and research centres at every stage of development.

The programme's core purpose is practical: helping institutions build or strengthen incubators, innovation hubs and technology transfer offices. Institutions without any existing enterprise-support infrastructure can apply, and so can those that already run one.

Who can apply?

The programme splits applicants into two tracks.

• Start group — for institutions setting up enterprise support for the first time. No existing incubator, hub or technology transfer office is required.
• Scale group — for institutions strengthening support they already run. This track covers existing incubators, accelerators, innovation hubs and technology transfer offices.

That two-track design means a university with no incubator competes on different terms than a research centre with a mature hub. Both get access to the same programme infrastructure.

What do selected institutions receive?

The AfDB lists four concrete benefits for selected participants.

• Extensive training modules — practical online training in governance, operations, funding, partnerships and sustainability.
• Ready-to-use toolkits — frameworks and tools a team can apply immediately.
• A continental peer network — onboarding onto the Bank's ENNOVA platform and a growing community of institutions across Africa.
• The Deep Dive — select institutions receive tailored, hands-on support to develop an innovation and entrepreneurship strategy.

The Deep Dive is the programme's selective tier. Not every participant gets the tailored strategy support; it goes to a subset of institutions chosen from the cohort.

What does the application require?

The application demands three commitments, according to the programme's published requirements.

• Leadership backing — a letter from the institutional head stating commitment to the programme and to further enterprise support initiatives.
• Staff time — the ability to commit between 12 and 16 hours over a three-week period.
• Women and youth — a commitment to women and youth participation.

Applicants also need their institution's details ready, plus the current stage of their enterprise support unit. That staging question determines placement in the Start or Scale group.

The leadership letter requirement signals what the AfDB is screening for: institutional buy-in rather than individual enthusiasm. A three-week, 12-to-16-hour time commitment keeps the barrier low enough for teams that can't release staff for a full semester.

Why does this matter for African universities?

The programme connects individual institutions to ENNOVA, the Bank's platform for pan-African innovation collaboration. That network effect is the long-term play — a single university incubator gains more from a continental community of peers than from training alone.

Phase II also arrives as technology transfer offices remain rare outside Africa's flagship research universities. By offering a Start track with no prerequisites, the AfDB is explicitly courting institutions that have never run enterprise support before.

The women and youth commitment aligns with the Bank's broader inclusion agenda across its private-sector programmes. Institutions applying will need to show how they plan to follow through on it.

The November 9, 2026 deadline gives institutions roughly a full application cycle to secure a leadership letter and assemble the required details. For African higher education institutions weighing a first move into entrepreneurship support, the programme removes the two most common excuses — no existing infrastructure and no budget — in a single application.