📋 Tender Overview
Project ID
180033
Thematic Priority
Safeguarding the Environment
LocationNigeria
Project ManagerLuca LONGO
Donor
GEF - Global Environment Facility
Fund
Global Environment Facility
Gender Marker2A (Significant expected contribution to GE)
In 2011, UNIDO, with the support of the GEF and the Government of South Africa, successfully implemented the ‘Greening the COP17’ project. One of the four components of the project focused on the design and implementation of the first South Africa Clean Technology Competition (2011 SA Cleantech) for green entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with innovative ideas and concepts in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy and green building practices. The competition was coordinated by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) through the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA), in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), etc. All participants were given the opportunity to present their products on energy efficiency, renewables and green buildings and get feedback, while the best went to receive additional training, mentoring and access to Cleantech networking events. The success of the project, which attracted a wide range of private-sector interest, identified 24 semi-finalist companies and 3 winners across three categories, allowing it to go into a second phase in 2013. The success of the SA Cleantech saw the project quickly expending into other countries in 2013. More than 10 additional countries, one of them being Nigeria, have been identified for development under GEF-6 cycle. This flagship programme has the potential to create an extensive network of clean energy entrepreneurs originating from countries participating in this global programme.In addition to creating an enabling policy environment and institutional capacity, the project will also assist Nigeria in the establishment of a supportive innovation ecosystem through the organization of two to three annual competitions with associated Accelerator programmes; these will initially focus on industry-intensive regions before expanding to include other states/regions. The project will also link the innovation ecosystem of Nigeria to the global network of ecosystems in other countries of the GEF-UNIDO global flagship programme, and also to a network of renowned innovation incubators and accelerator networks
