The Bavarian Office for Africa, in collaboration with the Scientific Coordination Office (WKS) Bavaria-Africa at the Bavarian Research Alliance (BayFOR), hosted a series of engagements in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2024. The events organised as part of the Office’s efforts to strengthen and expand cooperation in research and innovation (R&I) between the two regions, provided a platform for participants from Ethiopia and Bavaria to engage in meaningful discussions, exchange knowledge, and identify areas of future collaboration.
At the heart of this collaboration was the Excellence Lab: Grant Proposal Writing and Project Implementation for Horizon Europe Funding, held on November 19-20, 2024. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Mekdelawit Yeshitila, Head of the Bavarian Office for Africa, and Ms. Melanie Schulte, Team Coordinator at BayFOR. Their opening remarks introduced the activities of both offices across Africa and the growing cooperation between the two offices in Addis Ababa and Munich.
The Excellence Lab gathered more than 40 participants from various Ethiopian and Bavarian universities, who engaged in intensive training sessions on EU funding programs, proposal writing, and project management. The workshop aimed at equipping participants with the skills necessary to develop competitive grant applications, particularly for Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ programs. Upon completing the two-day training, participants received certificates.
Beyond the workshop, the engagement extended into a series of university and research institution visits by a delegation of four Bavarian university representatives. These delegates represented:
- University of Applied Science Kempten – Africa Office
- Technical University Ingolstadt – Institute of New Energy Systems
- University of Augsburg – Centre for Climate Resilience
- Deggendorf Institute of Technology – Institute for Precision Manufacturing and High-Frequency
During their visit, they explored key entrepreneurship and incubation centres in Ethiopian universities, starting with iceaddis, Ethiopia’s pioneering co-working space and incubation hub, followed by emerging innovation spaces at the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) and Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU). During the visit to AAiT, the delegates were able to witness the deep historical ties between Ethiopia and Germany, as the university’s main campus building and much of its machinery were originally provided by the German government.
The delegation further engaged with Debre Birhan University, where they met representatives from various STEM departments and the university’s vice president. Some of the delegates also visited Tegbare ID TVET College, Ethiopia’s oldest technical and vocational education institution. These visits facilitated discussions on potential research collaborations, particularly in the field of engineering.
This initiative is an important milestone in Africa-Bavaria cooperation in research and higher education. The Bavarian Office for Africa and WKS Bavaria-Africa will follow up on proposals and collaborations that come out of this event and continue to facilitate relationships towards accessing these EU funding programs (which usually require multiple institutions to come together from different countries and sometimes continents). The Bavarian Office for Africa and the WKS Bavaria-Africa at BayFOR look forward to expanding these partnerships and supporting future projects to drive the creation of knowledge in both regions.