The UK Royal Academy of Engineering says entries for its next Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation competition will open on July 13 and close on September 8.

The 2026 shortlist of applicants includes innovators from 11 African countries, after the academy received a record number of applications from more than 30 countries.

Interested parties can learn about this year’s shortlisted innovators, or apply for the next round, on the academy's website.

Companies in Africa have demonstrated that locally grounded ideas can become scalable ventures when paired with the right business support, networks and visibility. The finalists' success reflects a growing market for practical, commercially viable solutions that can strengthen energy resilience across communities, businesses, transport systems and health facilities.

Across African energy and transport markets, some of the most useful solutions are being built around the practical realities users navigate every day. Engineers across the continent are developing solutions for these conditions.

Many are building ventures around technologies that can be deployed, serviced and scaled in the communities they are designed to serve.

The result is a growing field of energy and mobility businesses focused on practical resilience, including keeping solar systems operational, supporting cleaner transport, reducing diesel dependence, improving rural power access and strengthening healthcare infrastructure, the academy says.

Ghana-based hybrid microgrid system company Fusion Wind Turbine has been shortlisted for the 2026 Africa Prize. Its technology combines wind and solar power in a modular system designed for reliable local electricity.

The system, designed for offgrid communities, schools and healthcare centres, uses a gearless vertical-axis wind turbine with a solar arch to generate power across different weather conditions.

It is designed to be locally repairable, quieter than diesel generators and suitable for remote settings. Around 90% of the system’s components are designed and manufactured in Ghana, the academy says.

Rural healthcare centres are a clear use case for these systems. Reliable electricity supports night-time treatment, vaccine refrigeration and the safe use of medical equipment.

Early installations in Ghana have replaced diesel generators, reducing fuel costs while supporting lighting and refrigeration at remote health facilities, the academy states.

Further, Fusion Wind Turbine has delivered more than 6 000 hours of clean energy at Adeiso and Asitey Healthcare Centres in Ghana’s Eastern region, which supported vaccine preservation and safeguards more than 300 maternal deliveries each year.

At the Adeiso Healthcare Centre, the system has eliminated diesel costs of about $600 a month.

Nigeria-based electrolysis company Just Add Water is designed for healthcare facilities that need reliable electricity and medical-grade oxygen. Also shortlisted for the 2026 Africa Prize, the system uses regenerative fuel cell technology to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, providing both services on site.

The hydrogen is used to generate electricity, and the oxygen is captured for medical use. This can help hospitals reduce dependence on diesel and third-party oxygen delivery, the academy says.

The solution has already been deployed in three hospitals in Lagos, which are generating clean electricity and producing medical-grade oxygen to support patient care.

Its service model is also designed to help facilities adopt the technology without taking on the full upfront cost and complexity of owning specialist infrastructure.

Just Add Water is now scaling its quantum and AI-optimised regenerative fuel cell system from 100 kW towards 1 MW deployments across Nigeria, thereby supporting its ambition to provide cleaner, more reliable power and medical-grade oxygen for healthcare facilities.

The venture has also been recognised as a winner of the Harvard Business School Africa New Venture Competition, which strengthens its profile as it moves towards wider deployment.

Meanwhile, Uganda-based distributed solar power management company Innovex’s Remot enables users to track solar system performance after deployment.

The company was a 2020 Africa Prize finalist.

Over the past year, Innovex has expanded Remot’s role in off-grid energy management through a partnership with Ennos, manufacturing more than 1 000 solar water pump controllers fitted with Innovex remote monitoring units and connected to the Remot platform for pay-as-you-go distribution across Africa.

Additionally, through a partnership with the Energy Saving Trust, Innovex has also developed predictive maintenance machine-learning algorithms for off-grid appliances, including solar water pumps, solar freezers and solar maize mills, which strengthens Remot’s ability to support long-term system performance.