logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2024
23 m

Africa's best new innovators

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In a special programme, Myra Anubi is in Nairobi, Kenya at the final of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation which rewards the best new innovators on the continent. Their exciting solutions deal with access to healthcare, plastic recycling, waste disposal and pest detection. She meets the finalists and finds out which one of them has walked away with the £50,000 prize.

Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer: Richard Kenny Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound Mix: Annie Gardiner

(Image: Finalists in the 2024 Africa Prize, Royal Academy of Engineering)

Up next
Jul 8
Cutting food waste
Food waste is one of the biggest environmental and economic challenges we face — and much of it happens long before the food reaches our plates. In this episode, we meet the people working to tackle the problem in different ways. We hear about the smart sensors which could help c ... Show More
23m 24s
Jul 1
The traffic lights tackling poverty
Despite a lot of progress in the last few decades, more than a billion people still live in acute poverty, according to the UN. Many don’t have access to basic needs like food, water, shelter and clothing. We look at an innovative project in Paraguay where people identify their o ... Show More
23m 17s
Jun 24
What to do with stray animals
How the numbers of stray dogs - and feral pigeons - can be kept down kindly in urban areas. From street dogs to feral pigeons, many towns and cities are having to deal with exploding bird and animal populations which can pose risks to health and safety. This week we take a look a ... Show More
23m 23s
Recommended Episodes
May 2024
Medical Innovations
This week, we’re looking at examples of innovative thinking in medicine. A new, non-invasive device could help people with paralysis to regain movement. And as Namibia passes a critical milestone, we look back on one of the biggest developments in preventing mother-to-child trans ... Show More
26m 29s
Jun 2024
Jennifer Hart on African Mobility and Infrastructure
Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel talks to Jennifer Hart, Professor and Chair of the History Department at Virginia Tech, about her work on the history and ethnography of mobility and infrastructure in Ghana. Hart’s newest book, Making an African City: Technopolitics and the Infra ... Show More
1h 9m
Mar 2020
A Trip Around Africa with Judd Devermont and Emilia Columbo
The population of Africa is projected to double by 2050, giving the continent one quarter of the world's people by then. Nigeria alone will have a larger population than the United States. To the extent they aren't so already, the world's problems and opportunities will be Africa ... Show More
43m 57s
Jun 2023
101: Biotechnology and Healthcare: A New Dawn? With Bob Bradway, CEO of Amgen
The late Steve Jobs of Apple said “I think the biggest innovation of the 21st century will be at the intersection of biology and technology, a new era is beginning”. If you want see how biotech can change the world of health, whilst potentially being capable of creating extraordi ... Show More
39m 55s
Oct 2024
Fixing water
In today’s episode we look at some ingenious solutions to water related problems. We start our aquatic journey by going on a tour of one of Victorian England’s most important feats of engineering. We discover a cheap and easy way to test for water quality, and learn about one of ... Show More
17m 28s
Dec 2009
AT#211 - Travel to Johannesburg, South Africa
The Amateur Traveler talks to Ilana Fayerman from Project Explorer about Johannesburg, South Africa. Project Explorer creates educational videos for kids and Ilana is one of the video hosts. She traveled to Johannesburg to meet its people, experience its culture and eat something ... Show More
35m 17s
Oct 2024
Acemoglu on Automation: The Nobel Laureate Vs. the Robots (with Daron Acemoglu)
Since Daron Acemoglu just won the 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences alongside MIT Sloan professor Simon Johnson and University of Chicago professor James Robinson, we’re revisiting  this powerful episode featuring Acemoglu’s insights from 2023. In his groundbreaking ... Show More
53m 54s
Sep 2023
Forward Thinking on funding a clean world with Ann Mettler
Co-host Janet Bush talks with Ann Mettler. Mettler is Vice President, Europe, at Breakthrough Energy, working on cleantech innovation in pursuit of a net-zero-emissions future. Before her current role, she worked for many years in European public policy. She was head of the Europ ... Show More
35m 19s
Aug 2024
CERN’s Supercollider Plan
CERN’s plans to build a bigger, faster particle collider, with a hefty 17 billion Euro price tag, are in question. Physicists Andrew Pontzen and Harry Cliff discuss if the new machine is really worth it. A place on the podium or disappointment in the Olympics can come down to the ... Show More
28m 4s
Sep 2024
Predicting everything
The Royal Society recently announced the shortlist for their annual Science Book Prize – and nominated is science writer and journalist Tom Chivers, author of the book Everything is Predictable. He tells us how statistics impact every aspect of our lives, and joins Marnie as a st ... Show More
34m 50s