Innovation Fair 2025 Highlights Europe-Africa-Mediterranean Collaboration in Research & Innovation

BRUSSELS — The Innovation Fair 2025, held from 23 October and hosted by the European Commission along with partner institutions, showcased research and innovation collaborations between Europe, Africa and the Mediterranean region.
The event brought together start-ups, researchers, policymakers and investors to explore transformative solutions in sectors such as health tech, clean-energy, digital agriculture and circular economy. One of the aims was to support scaling of innovation across continents, by facilitating matchmaking and partnerships.
For African innovators, the fair provided an important platform to gain exposure, access networks and scale promising solutions — and for European actors to expand reach and impact in adjacent regions.
Why it matters:

Cross-regional innovation collaboration can accelerate progress on global challenges (climate, health, food security) by combining resources, capacity and markets.

Africa stands to gain from stronger innovation ecosystems that connect local solutions with global support and scalability.

Policymakers need to ensure inclusive access and equitable benefits from such partnerships.
What’s next:

Tracking how concrete partnerships emerge from the fair — e.g., joint ventures, funding rounds, pilot programmes.

Observing how innovation ecosystems in Africa and the Mediterranean evolve with this kind of collaboration.

Measuring tangible impacts: new products, job creation, local manufacturing, exports.