OUR
INITIATIVES
We are restless. We thrive on challenges and find opportunities where others see obstacles.
OUR
INITIATIVES
We are restless. We thrive on challenges and find opportunities where others see obstacles.
Digiwood is Africa’s premier Digital Furniture Innovation Hub, aggregating interior design and manufacturing SMEs. We help them digitalise their processes, share best practices, and offer competitive solutions to the booming furniture retail, residential, and commercial real estate sectors.
Digiwood aims to bridge the gap between the digital world and the wood furniture industry in Nigeria and across Africa. We engage innovators, youth, and vocational training schools to nurture the next generation of talent and provide opportunities for collaboration among small artisans, designers, architects, and wood manufacturing SMEs.
Turnkey Furnishing Projects
Leveraging our partners’ expertise, Digiwood offers exclusive “turnkey” furnishing projects for the luxury sector, including hotels, bars & restaurants, private residences, offices, boutiques, and cruise ships.
We are committed to delivering high-quality projects on time and within budget. Our network ensures that MSMEs are involved in complex and sophisticated furnishing projects, closing the gap with the market. Our multi-skilled team ensures comprehensive project execution with a robust managerial approach at every stage: Project Management, Design, Manufacturing, Procurement and Supply, Logistics, and Installation.
Digitalisation Services & Knowledge Sharing
Digiwood offers partners the opportunity to connect and exchange ideas with the world’s leading studios and brands while utilising innovative technologies. We help MSMEs familiarise themselves with and use 3D laser scanners, drones, CAD software, and augmented reality to enhance their design, interact with installers and share project development and progress with clients, thereby leveraging cutting-edge tools to bring visions to life.
Digiwood Academy leverages the latest digital technologies to provide comprehensive education and training. Every day, we place in the hands of the new generations all the knowledge, craftsmanship, and expertise of the great Italian masters in our field of interior design and furniture.
Additionally, we provide them with the most innovative tools and cutting-edge machinery, enabling them to evolve tradition and redesign the future of wood design.
Digiwood offers vocational training programs for unemployed youth and upskilling courses for industry experts.
Talents’ Scouting
Digiwood helps the industry find the talent they need by selecting from our network and the alumni of Digiwood Academy.
The European Commission offers a wide range of funding opportunities for international and collaborative research and innovation (Horizon Europe), capacity building (Erasmus+), regional cooperation projects (Interreg), and excellence in doctoral education and postdoctoral training (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions). These cover diverse areas such as health, culture and creativity, digital, industry and space, climate, energy and mobility, food, bioeconomy, agriculture and environment, and civil security.
Ready to turn your vision into a reality?
Explore the latest Calls for Proposals on the European Funding and Tenders Portal.
While the competition for funds can be fierce, Alfredo4EU, powered by AI, simplifies the process of crafting a compelling proposal and managing your project. Increase your chances of success with Alfredo4EU.
What does Alfredo4EU do for you?
It guides you through the entire proposal process, from initial concept to project execution.
- Partner Matching: It connects you with excellent partners across Europe, Africa, and beyond based on your proposal.
- Collaborative Platform: It enables seamless collaboration with multiple partners.
- Proposal Guidance: It provides step-by-step guidance on the proposal template, ensuring compliance with Call requirements.
- Budget Planning: It helps you create a budget that aligns with Call specifications.
- Workflow Management: It streamlines your workflow and identifies inconsistencies.
- Literature Review: We assist in reviewing relevant scientific literature to ensure your proposal is cutting-edge.
- Impact Assessment: It suggests potential scientific, technological, social, and environmental outcomes and impacts.
- Proposal Editing: It checks for inconsistencies and provides editorial suggestions.
Project Management
Once your proposal is selected for funding, you have everything ready to kick off the work with your partners.
Now, you can track the advancement of the project’s activities, monitor deadlines, prepare your deliverables and reports, and manage the budget consumption, all in one place.
Smart Step is an innovative e-learning platform designed to tackle the pressing issue of youth unemployment in Africa. With nearly 20% of the African population aged 15-24 and over 40% of this demographic unemployed, there’s a clear need for accessible, comprehensive, and relevant educational opportunities.
To meet this need, Smart Step focuses on capacity building and vocational education and training to equip young people with the skills they need to succeed in the modern workforce.
Smart Step provides a multilingual, inclusive virtual community that offers cutting-edge courses, including smart logistics, green waste management, and entrepreneurship, with new content continuously added to stay relevant and impactful. Our platform is continually updated to ensure its content remains relevant and impactful.
Smart Step is more than just a platform, it’s an active community, with over 1,500 members from across Africa, managed daily to promote a dynamic environment for learning, knowledge exchange and collaboration.
Key Features
- Virtual Classes: Seamless Zoom integration for interactive learning experiences.
- Personalised Learning: AI-driven matchmaking for tailored content and job opportunities.
Blockchain-Based - Certification: Verifiable credentials to showcase skills and achievements.
- Career Pathways: A personalised approach to career development based on individual goals.
Key features include seamless Zoom integration for virtual classes, AI-driven matchmaking for content and job opportunities, Blockchain-based certification for course completion, and a premium career pathway tailored to individual aspirations.
We are committed to making Smart Step an even more valuable resource for our users. By partnering with strategic partners, initiatives and organisations, we will continue to expand our offerings, integrate new modules and ensure that our platform remains at the forefront of youth empowerment in Africa.
What is DataScientia?
DataScientia is a global, decentralised initiative dedicated to shaping the future of responsible Artificial Intelligence. Built on four foundational pillars: information, education, research, and innovation. It brings together universities, research centres, innovators, and citizens to co-create knowledge and build AI ecosystems that are ethical, inclusive, and culturally aware. Led by Fausto Giunchiglia, Professor of Computer Science, University of Trento it already brings together universities from China, Mongolia, Palestine, India, Kazakhstan, South Africa, France, Cyprus and Paraguay.
By connecting diverse communities across continents, DataScientia empowers institutions and individuals to participate actively in the development of human-centred, transparent, and socially beneficial AI.
APODISSI as a Strategic Partner
APODISSI plays a pivotal role in expanding and strengthening DataScientia’s presence across Africa, driving outreach, partnerships, and engagement with key actors who are shaping the continent’s digital future. Our contribution goes far beyond communication support, we act as an enabler, connector, and catalyst for meaningful collaboration.
Championing African Partnerships
APODISSI leads the engagement of African universities, research centres, innovation hubs, and policymakers, ensuring that the continent is strongly represented within the global DataScientia network. By fostering connections with ministries of education, higher learning institutions, and national digital innovation bodies, we help shape conversations around AI capacity building, talent development, and research excellence.
Building Bridges Between Research, Policy, and Society
Our role includes creating pathways for African stakeholders to participate in international research collaborations, funding initiatives, and cross-border innovation activities. APODISSI actively supports the mobilisation of new partnerships, helping local actors tap into global opportunities while contributing their unique perspectives and expertise.
Supporting Citizen-Science Engagement Across the Continent
Africa’s youth and citizen communities hold enormous potential for innovation. APODISSI supports DataScientia in cultivating this potential through engagement strategies tailored for students, young innovators, and local communities. This includes amplifying participation in citizen-science projects, encouraging grassroots contributions to data collection and research, and creating environments where new ideas can emerge and flourish.
Strengthening Visibility, Identity, and Impact
APODISSI contributes to the development of a strong and coherent identity for DataScientia. We enhance visibility across digital and physical platforms, ensure clarity and relevance in messaging, and promote the initiative at national and regional events, helping position DataScientia as a leading voice in ethical AI across Africa and internationally.
Fostering Sustainable Growth
We also support the design of scalable, long-term engagement models for universities and innovation ecosystems. This includes strengthening e-learning outreach through the Smart Step platform, exploring new membership models, and facilitating community-driven innovation around data and AI.
A Shared Vision for Africa and the World
Together, APODISSI and DataScientia are committed to building a future where AI is inclusive, responsible, and truly global. By amplifying African voices, empowering local research communities, and fostering collaboration between governments, academia, industry, and citizens, we help ensure that innovation brings shared prosperity and long-lasting impact.
We connect the dots
We identify, adapt and deploy future production technologies, we foster knowledge transfer between mature and emerging markets and we promote innovation internationalisation.
