The United Kingdom has called on innovators and small and medium-sized enterprises across Africa, including Nigeria, to apply for the 2026 Digital Energy Challenge.\n<\/p>\n
The announcement was made on Monday via the UK in Nigeria\u2019s official X handle.\n<\/p>\n
The challenge, co-funded by the UK and European Union, targets digital and AI-enabled solutions that can increase energy access, support the energy transition, and improve the operational efficiency of electricity utilities in Africa.\n<\/p>\n
According to the notice, the programme is open for applications in two categories: \u201cTech Accelerator for innovative digital projects in one of the 51 specified countries in Africa, and<\/p>\n
\u201cPartnership for a collaborative project in Nigeria, developed with the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The embassy said that with around 90 million people lacking reliable electricity in Nigeria, the initiative offers a unique opportunity to \u201ctest solutions in real-world conditions, demonstrate scalability and resilience, develop innovations with strong R&D value and create models replicable across other countries in Africa.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
It added that \u201ca total of \u20ac827,000 has been earmarked for selected projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winners in the Tech Accelerator category will receive up to \u20ac150,000, while those in the Partnership category may receive up to \u20ac400,000.\n<\/p>\n
The funding is expected to support equipment, software, training, and project implementation, alongside technical and expert assistance.\n<\/p>\n
The programme also includes bootcamps, networking opportunities, and visibility support through communication campaigns led by the Agence Fran\u00e7aise de D\u00e9veloppement (AFD) and the Digital Energy Community.\n<\/p>\n
On eligibility, the UK embassy said, \u201cApplicants must be SMEs with fewer than 250 employees, annual turnover below \u20ac50 million, a strong research and development component, and no conflict of interest with AEDC.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cProjects must also be digital in nature, already beyond the ideation stage, and implementable within 12 months.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Applicants are urged to visit https:\/\/digital-energy.eu\/en\/digital-energy-challenge-for-start-call-projects to apply.\n<\/p>\n
Applications opened on April 20 and close on June 17, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Kingdom has called on innovators and small and medium-sized enterprises across Africa, including Nigeria, to apply…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4156,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-28375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-nigeria","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116517364329153690","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}