MENA Regional Innovation Hub Co-Creation

Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The initiative aims to scale groundbreaking water-energy innovations to address food security, gender, and poverty reduction in an environmentally sustainable manner. The co-creation process involved a 1.5-day workshop in Larnaca, Cyprus, where three selected teams, led by Berytech, Kaizen, and Chemonics Egypt, presented their Expressions of Interest (EOIs) and underwent a modified SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and to-dos. The teams collaborated to address four key gaps identified in the EOIs: environmental, social, local context, and financial. The Berytech Consortium's concept note, "Regional Innovation Hub MENA," proposes to support WE4F innovators and develop ecosystems in the MENA region. They possess specialized knowledge and experience to effectively support WE4F innovations at all stages, particularly in the MENA region. The consortium aims to provide expertise to execute all key tasks, including technical assistance requirements, in-house and through an extensive network of partners and experts. The Kaizen-led concept note, "Building on Strengths and Innovation: Team Kaizen's Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Innovation Hub," proposes a MENA Regional Innovation Hub (Hub) with a small but dedicated team based in Amman and Dubai. The Hub would adopt an "investor-back" approach, engaging potential investors from the outset and co-designing milestones with innovators to achieve bigger, faster impact. The co-creation process resulted in two final concept notes, which were submitted by the Berytech Consortium and Kaizen-led teams. The concept notes highlight the teams' strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and to-dos, as well as their proposed approaches to addressing the key gaps identified in the EOIs. The Global Knowledge Initiative will continue to support the selected teams in the next steps of the BAA process. The initiative aims to create new relationships, new partnerships, and impactful ideas for the Regional Innovation Hub in the MENA region. The co-creation process involved a 1.5-day workshop in Larnaca, Cyprus, where the selected teams presented their EOIs and underwent a modified SWOT analysis. The teams collaborated to address four key gaps identified in the EOIs: environmental, social, local context, and financial. The Berytech Consortium's concept note proposes to support WE4F innovators and develop ecosystems in the MENA region. They possess specialized knowledge and experience to effectively support WE4F innovations at all stages, particularly in the MENA region. The Kaizen-led concept note proposes a MENA Regional Innovation Hub (Hub) with a small but dedicated team based in Amman and Dubai. The Hub would adopt an "investor-back" approach, engaging potential investors from the outset and co-designing milestones with innovators to achieve bigger, faster impact. The co-creation