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Afreximbank has launched the Africa Research and Innovation Hub (ARIH) with an ambitious goal to turn the continent’s scientific talent into trade, jobs and growth worth as much as US$70 billion every year.
Speaking at the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) 2025 in Algiers, Dr Yemi Kale, Afreximbank’s Group Chief Economist and Managing Director for Research, said the hub is designed to move intellectual capital into industrial competitiveness, fast-tracking innovation from labs to markets.
He noted Africa currently contributes less than 3% of global research output, arguing that a step-change in R&D spending and commercialisation is essential for technological sovereignty and trade-led growth.
Africa Research and Innovation Hub
A platform to double R&D and scale homegrown tech
ARIH will connect academia, industry, policymakers and investors to close Africa’s R&D gap, with the bank positioning the hub as a catalyst to double R&D expenditure and translate breakthroughs into scalable businesses across sectors.
Afreximbank’s calculus: pushing R&D higher by one percentage point of GDP could unlock up to US$70 billion in annual economic gains.
Awards spotlight 12 problem-solving projects
At IATF 2025, ARIH recognised 12 research and innovation winners drawn from more than 200 applications across Africa and the Caribbean projects the bank says can tackle real-world challenges on the continent.
Certificates and cash prizes were presented by Kanayo Awani, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade and Export Development.
Dr Anthony Coleman, the bank’s Director for Development Research, urged winners to use ARIH as a springboard for collaboration that advances intra-African trade and structural transformation.
Big week for deal-making at IATF
The trade fair itself underlined market appetite: organisers reported US$48.3 billion in trade and investment deals signed over seven days, 112,000+ visitors from 132 countries, and 2,148 exhibitors.
Senior Algerian ministers, overseeing higher education, the knowledge economy, startups, foreign trade and export promotion, joined regional counterparts from Lesotho and the Central African Republic for the launch events, signalling government-level buy-in for the hub’s mission.
Africa Research and Innovation Hub
Why this matters
Africa has the talent and the ideas, and ARIH is Afreximbank’s bet on the missing link, structured pathways to finance, commercial partners and policy support that get innovations into factories, farms, clinics and cross-border markets.
If it succeeds, the hub could boost intra-African trade, strengthen value chains under AfCFTA, and help shift the continent from commodities to knowledge-driven exports.