Deadline: 01 July, 2020

The World Bank Group has launched a Call for Innovation under the West Africa Coastal Areas Management Programme (WACA). This Call for Innovation seeks to identify innovative and feasible solutions to fight coastal erosion and flooding issues associated with the ongoing development of large commercial ports and maritime operations in West Africa, mainly for Benin, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, and Togo, but with also for the rest of the countries in West Africa.

The scope of the Call for Innovation is to identify innovations that help avoid, mitigate, and remediate the geomorphological and ecological impacts associated with existing and planned commercial ports in West Africa. Proposed solutions will need to be innovative, feasible and sustainable, and may include: infrastructure to be implemented along the coast to control erosion from existing and planned new ports; infrastructure to be implemented at existing and planned new ports and lagoon systems to control water flows and sediment loads; operation and maintenance practices for existing and planned new ports; public-private partnerships business models and contracting options for existing and planned new ports.

Benefits

• The top-ten, longlisted competitors will see a summary description of their proposals in a WACA Innovation Book at the end of the competition
• The top-five, shortlisted competitors will be invited to present their proposal, on Demo Day, to a live and virtual audience of World Bank managers, partners, and investors (planned on 11 November, 2020)
• The top-three winners will receive additional media coverage and will be invited after the Demo Day to individual follow-up meetings with the World Bank, in view of having their ideas pitched at an upcoming WACA Marketplace

Eligibility

• Participants could be a single entity, a single individual, or a consortium of entities or individuals
• An entity must be a university (public or private), a research organisation (public or private), a private enterprise (i.e. an engineering firm, a construction firm, or a consulting group), or a non-profit organisation (i.e. a non-govermental organisation, a charity, or a social enterprise); an individual can be a university student or single consultant)

To apply and for more information, click here.

Photo source: WACA