Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation marks 10th anniversary

The medal, awarded yesterday (January 31, 2024), is one of 35 anniversary grants, prizes, and accelerator programme awards being invested in African innovators who are solving key development challenges on the continent.

Alumni of the Africa Prize programme were put through a series of interviews over the last two months, and each had to pitch to the panel of judges and audience members in under three minutes at the Royal Academy of Engineering yesterday.

Alumnus of the Africa Prize, South Africa’s Neo Hutiri, was awarded the anniversary medal and £50,000 to further support his business, Technovera. His product, Pelebox Smart Lockers, is placed at convenient collection points across South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, and is designed to improve access to chronic disease medication.

Hutiri said that since it was founded in 2016, Technovera has reduced a patient’s waiting and collection time from three hours to collection of their medication in under 30 minutes.