One of the Three Vehicles of the
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development
The Acceleration Centres are opportunity hubs for charting pathways for locally led, inclusive and sustainable development.
Linked as Network of ITU Acceleration Centres they enhance global, regional, and national innovation capabilities for technology, policy and flagship initiative development amplify local capabilities to accelerate innovation, entrepreneurship, and improve the competitiveness of economic sectors through digitalization.
Acceleration Centres are either new entities established with ITU support on the request of countries or are hosted by existing organizations (e.g., public entities, universities).
Centres have a formal governance structure and often a physical presence. Signature features of Centres are an ITU-certified work methodology and delivery standards and a tailored competency framework. The Centre model ensures the sound management of the hubs and individual initiatives and progress on the strategic goals defined by each Centre.
Centres are self-funded by host institutions or other stakeholders.
Centres host research, training, co-creation on stakeholder-defined problems and the incubation of innovative solutions. Centres also provide safe space for experimentation open to diverse teams from public and private sector stakeholders.
Services delivered in Centres are part of knowledge programmes based on Playbooks developed by the Digital Transformation Lab, the second vehicle of the Alliance, on the five broad strategic objectives or cross-cutting areas.
How can an ITU Acceleration Centre catalyze your country's journey towards an innovation-driven digital economy?
Centres chose one or multiple strategic objectives as part of their mandate.
Through tailor-made campaigns on the chosen strategic objectives, a Centre can:
- Equip organizations (e.g. public entities, academia or private sector) with strategic foresight knowledge and competencies to advance on their mission and goals through understanding the VUCA digital landscape and nurturing innovation across sectors
- Accelerate the digital policy development cycle to create an environment conducive to investment and technology innovation
- Remove barriers to the development of national innovations ecosystems
- Identify strategic alternatives and concrete steps to boost the competitiveness of the national digital economy
- Showcase or scale innovative digital business models, products and services to regional and global markets
- Unleash synergies between policy and ecosystem initiatives, break down silos and align stakeholder strategies to national, regional digital development agendas
- Catalyse local talent readiness for novel and digital jobs
- Turn a technical or research-based academic institution into an entrepreneurial university
- Enhance collaboration between academia, government, private sector, financiers, startups and civil society
- Explore other use cases related to the five strategic objectives and stakeholder needs.
A current list of host organizations for the Network of ITU Acceleration Centres, listed by region are:
Africa
- Gabon,
Ministère de la Communication, de l'Économie numérique et de la Poste, National Centre
- Kenya,
Communications Authority of Kenya, Global Centre
- Malawi,
Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority, National Centre
- Senegal,
Sénégal Numérique SA, National Centre
- Tanzania,
Ministry of Information, Communication, and Information Technology, National Centre
- Zimbabwe,
Postal & Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, National Centre
Americas
Asia and Pacific
Arab region
CIS
Europe
For details about the ITU Acceleration Centres, see the
Announcement of the Launch of the Network.Find out more via the website of the
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development
