Project Highlights

New Video uploaded in April 2020: Urban Links Africa - COVID EDITION

Urban Links Africa

By 2050, 2.5 billion more people will live in cities and almost 90 percent of that growth will be in either Africa or Asia. Three African cities have already grown beyond a population of 10 million and are considered megacities. More African cities, like Johannesburg and Nairobi, will soon become megacities. However, much of the urbanisation of Africa will be occurring in medium size cities.  This rapid urbanisation provides great opportunities for African cities and their citizens, but also serious long-term problems if not managed well. Whilst much of the focus of current research and work is on the emergence of mega-cities, there is a growing epidemic of chronically under-resourced and ill-planned expansion of the rest of Africa’s cities that would see significant impact from equitable partnerships in innovation.  The gap in medium sized cities with massive urbanisation is the area that the Urban Links programme seeks to address.

By developing mutually equitable partnerships between UK and African Innovators, this programme seeks to undertake research and deploy innovation and technology solutions across six cities - three Kenyan cities: Mombasa, Kisumu and Nairobi; and in three South African cities: Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. 

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates: Facilitating an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Based Economy

Sharjah, like many Gulf cities and nations, is seeking to transition from an oil and gas-based economy to one with a thriving entrepreneurship, innovation and research environment in a regional and global economy.

Dr Hochadel and Future Cities Catapult are currently partnering with the American University of Sharjah, sponsored by His Highness Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi. His Highness is establishing a world class innovation testbed; the new Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SRTI).

The Project involves a bespoke market analysis to understand the local drivers and attributes which facilitate an innovation location; a sample testbed of innovation and technology applications that are most applicable to Sharjah; and a formal UK Government to Sharjah Government bi-lateral industry innovation forum.