RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOR CONTINENTAL PROSPERITY

Illustrative image of African researchers examining an agricultural sensor prototype. — Illustrative image · Research into practical possibility

Bridging the intellectual property gap between Africa and the rest of the world.

We discover and support potentially patentable ideas that solve distinctly African problems—and help turn them into commercially useful products that contribute to continental prosperity.

Read our manifesto

0.5%

of worldwide patent applications were received by African offices in 2024.

WIPO · 2025 report, table A5 ↗

400 million+

young people aged 15–35 in Africa, as reported by UNESCO.

UNESCO · updated October 2025 ↗

Patent figures describe where applications are filed, including filings by non-residents. They do not measure all African invention. The population figure is not a graduate count.

01 / OUR PURPOSE

Our founding manifesto

Knowledge must
become agency.

Africa’s future should be shaped by the people who understand its possibilities—and live with its challenges.

According to WIPO, African offices received just 0.5% of global patent applications in 2024. Yet UNESCO describes a continent with more than 400 million young people aged 15–35. These figures ask a question of our institutions: how do we create more pathways from human potential to invention with lasting African ownership?

Local knowledge is a starting advantage.

People working within a community understand constraints that distant design can overlook. A farmer’s experience of a changing season can reveal a research question that a generic model misses. Axum will help translate that knowledge into evidence and useful invention.

We help African inventions reach the market.

Axum Institute’s founding mission is to bridge the intellectual property gap between Africa and the rest of the world. We seek promising ideas grounded in African realities. Our purpose is to support the research needed to turn them into working inventions, with a clear path towards commercial use.

Support begins with a careful assessment of the proposed invention against existing work. Funding should resolve a concrete technical uncertainty, followed by testing in the setting where the product will be used. We will help teams pursue suitable protection and find a commercial route that retains value in African hands.

African knowledge should create lasting value for the people who develop it.

Our focus is inventions with a credible path to use and commercial value. Patentability must be assessed against prior art and the requirements of each jurisdiction; a promising idea is the beginning of that work.

02 / WHERE IDEAS ARE NEEDED

Eight challenges. Many possibilities.

African challenges.
An agenda for invention.

Africa’s languages, disease ecologies, farming systems and infrastructure create specific needs that generic solutions can miss. Across eight priorities, we seek ideas that address those needs with a testable invention and a credible route to adoption.