The Africa-Asian Co-creation Ecosystem is a collaborative platform connecting business incubators, social innovation labs, and university-based research labs across Asia and Africa to accelerate co-creation, systems innovation, and scalable impact.
The platform brings together leading institutions and universities to bridge innovation, research, policy, and practice across regions.
Asia and Africa are shaping the future of the global economy. Together, they represent the world’s fastest-growing markets, youngest populations, and some of the most urgent social, environmental, and economic challenges.
Across both regions:
Innovators are pioneering frugal, inclusive, and context-driven solutions
Universities, governance schools, and labs are generating applied, practice-oriented research
Incubators and accelerators are building new pathways to scale
Yet collaboration between Asia and Africa remains limited.
AAIX exists to change that—by combining innovation ecosystems with governance and systems leadership.
AAIX enables deep, long-term collaboration between innovation institutions—moving beyond one-off exchanges toward shared problem-solving and system-level change.
We support cross-regional teams to jointly define problems, design solutions, test pilots, and adapt innovations to diverse social, economic, and policy environments.
AAIX integrates systems thinking, public leadership, and political economy into innovation processes—ensuring solutions are institutionally grounded and policy-relevant.
AAIX bridges research, experimentation, governance, and adoption—helping promising solutions move from labs and pilots into markets, public systems, and communities.
AAIX is designed for institutions and leaders working on complex challenges, including:
Business incubators and accelerators supporting startups and SMEs
Social innovation labs in government, civil society, and development organizations
University and research labs, including governance and public policy institutions
Ecosystem enablers such as foundations, development partners, policymakers, and impact investors
AAIX works across thematic areas where systems change is essential, including:
Climate resilience and clean energy
Food systems and agri-innovation
Health and care systems
Inclusive digital economies
Sustainable cities and mobility
Focus areas evolve based on partner priorities and regional needs.
Thematic labs bring together teams from Asia and Africa—incubators, social labs, universities, and governance institutions—to jointly frame challenges, design solutions, and pilot interventions across multiple contexts.
A fellowship for innovation, governance, and research leaders focused on building capabilities in systems thinking, political economy, adaptive experimentation, and scaling pathways.
An open, practitioner-oriented repository of case studies, playbooks, tools, and learning resources—designed to support real-world application rather than theory alone.
Structured engagement with policymakers, investors, and large-scale implementers to support adoption, replication, and long-term sustainability of proven solutions.
Innovation and governance are treated as inseparable
Institutions, not projects, are the primary unit of change
Practice, research, and policy are integrated by design
The platform is Global South–led and context-driven
The focus is on systems transformation, not isolated pilots
AAIX positions incubators, labs, universities, and governance institutions as system conveners and long-term change agents.
We are building a founding network of partners across Asia and Africa.
Join as a partner incubator, lab, university, or governance institution
Collaborate as a funder or ecosystem enabler
Participate in a Co-creation Lab or Systems Innovation Fellowship
Contact Us to explore collaboration
Join the Exchange to express interest