(Business in Cameroon) - PK Fokam Awards for Science and Technology. This is the African prize officially launched on 7 June 2016 in Yaoundé by Cameroonian banker Paul Kammogne Fokam, to promote applied research in Africa and innovation in entrepreneurship. The announcement was made during the 3rd edition of the international conference of the PK Fokam Institute for Excellence in science and technology.

The competition, of which the first edition results will be published in 2017, will award prizes every two years to the Africans who will submit for the jury's consideration the best innovations in terms of business projects and the best Africans in the applied research field. Applications will be received via internet, by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

In the first category, the creator of the best business project will receive FCfa 10 million, as well as funding for his business plan; while the winner of the second prize will receive FCfa 2 million and funding for their business plan. The 2nd category will award FCfa 10 million to the invetor of the best applied research, while the runner-up in this category will receive FCfa 2 million.

According to Paul Kammogne Fokam, economist and founder of the banking group Afriland First Bank, which has about ten companies operating in Cameroon and the African continent, but also in Europe and Asia; this prize is his contribution to the rise of a generation of Africans who have the ability to support the black continent towards excellence. This especially as, he stresses, "there is a direct correlation between fundamental research, applied research and the distribution of wealth in the world".

Moreover, this industry leader, who maintains that it is today necessary for Africa to "position research as the main activity in the economic life", announced the upcoming launch of a "digital research grant". This is, we learn, about an online platform, where researchers, research sponsors and investors can exchange, for a more fruitful and more efficient collaboration in the service the development of Africa.

BRM