Transnational Innovation Ecosystem Fellows

Co-creating Solutions Across Africa and Asia

The AAIX Africa–Asia Transnational Innovation Ecosystem Fellows Program is a high-selectivity fellowship for emerging leaders working at the intersection of innovation, governance, and systems change—and who believe that complex challenges can only be addressed through transnational co-creation.

Hosted within the Africa–Asia Innovation Exchange (AAIX), and supported by institutions including the African School of Government and the Asian School of Governance, the program enables leaders from Africa and Asia to build, connect, and strengthen innovation ecosystems across regions.

This is not a training program.
It is a proof-of-work platform for ecosystem co-creation.

Why This Fellowship

Africa and Asia face shared, interconnected challenges—from climate transition and food systems to public service delivery and digital governance. Yet the people working on these challenges are still largely trained, incentivized, and recognized within national, sectoral, and organizational silos.

What is missing is not innovation or talent, but leaders who can work transnationally to strengthen innovation ecosystems—leaders whose contribution is not a single project, but the ability to co-create across contexts, institutions, and ways of knowing.

The Transnational Innovation Ecosystem Fellows Program exists to fill this gap.

How Fellows Work: A Systems and Problem-Driven Approach

Co-creation in AAIX is grounded in a systems innovation approach that draws on multiple, complementary sources of practice.

Fellows are introduced to and supported in using:

• Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), which anchors work in real problems and iterative learning,

• Theory U, developed at the MIT Presencing Institute, which emphasizes deep listening, collective sense-making, and alignment across difference, and

• Indigenous knowledge systems across Africa and Asia, which offer long-standing practices of collective decision-making, stewardship, and adaptation grounded in place and lived experience.

These approaches complement—rather than replace—the tools and methods Fellows already use, providing shared disciplines for working together across diverse contexts. Click here for more on our methodologies.

Together, they ensure that ecosystem building remains:

• Anchored in locally defined, real-world problems

• Relational, inclusive, and context-aware

• Adaptive rather than blueprint-driven

• Oriented toward learning across diverse African and Asian settings

What Fellows Do

Fellows work in Africa–Asia co-creation teams, embedded in initiatives where transnational collaboration is essential. Their core contribution is ecosystem co-creation, including:

• Jointly framing shared problems across African and Asian innovation systems

• Co-designing and iterating solutions using PDIA cycles, informed by Theory U practices of sensing and reflection

• Drawing on indigenous knowledge systems to ground innovation in local realities and long-term perspectives

• Linking incubators, labs, universities, governments, and funders

• Turning practice into shared, reusable ecosystem assets

Fellows are not placed in a single organization.
They build Transnational Innovation Ecosystem Portfolios spanning countries, sectors, and institutions.

Who the Fellowship Is For

The program is designed for emerging leaders (2–15 years into their careers) working across:

• Government and public policy

• Business, finance, and market-building institutions

• Civil society, social enterprises, and philanthropy

• Innovation platforms, incubators, social labs, and university labs

Ideal Fellows are people who:

• Are already working on real, complex ecosystem challenges

• Are frustrated by fragmentation and duplication

• Are comfortable operating without formal authority

• Value shared ownership, learning, and adaptation

• Respect multiple ways of knowing and working

The fellowship is unpaid by design. Fellows retain their primary roles; AAIX provides platform, partners, legitimacy, and co-creation infrastructure.

How the Fellowship Works

Phase 1: Problem Framing & Ecosystem Design (Months 1–2)

Fellows jointly define priority Africa–Asia challenges, map innovation ecosystem constraints, and design a PDIA-informed Co-creation Portfolio, integrating systems analysis, collective sensing (Theory U), and local knowledge.

Phase 2: Embedded Ecosystem Co-creation (Months 3–9)

Fellows work across AAIX-affiliated labs, incubators, universities, governments, and platforms to co-design, test, adapt, and learn through iterative PDIA cycles, supported by reflective and relational practices from Theory U.

Phase 3: Codification & Public Value (Months 10–12)

Fellows convert adaptive practice into reusable ecosystem assets—playbooks, frameworks, partnership models—and publish a public AAIX Transnational Innovation Ecosystem Portfolio.

What Fellows Produce

By the end of the fellowship, Fellows contribute to:

• A Transnational Africa–Asia Innovation Ecosystem Portfolio documenting problems addressed, iterations tested, and learning generated

• At least one reusable ecosystem asset, such as:

  • A cross-context co-creation or ecosystem design framework

  • A partnership or co-governance model

  • A shared financing, scaling, or coordination mechanism

• Contributions to the AAIX Co-creation Commons

No reports for reporting’s sake.
Only assets others can adapt and use.

What Fellows Gain

Fellows receive:

• Access to the AAIX co-creation platform and convening power

• Trusted partners across Africa and Asia

• Senior mentors experienced in PDIA, Theory U, and ecosystem building

• A peer cohort of high-caliber transnational operators

• Institutional legitimacy to work across boundaries

The value is access, trust, and shared Africa–Asia credibility—not stipends.

Why It Matters

The AAIX Africa–Asia Transnational Innovation Ecosystem Fellows Program creates a credible pathway for leaders whose primary contribution is ecosystem co-creation grounded in systems thinking and diverse knowledge traditions.

Over time, it aims to:

• Normalize transnational ecosystem building as a leadership capability

• Strengthen Africa–Asia innovation pathways

• Position AAIX as a global reference point for problem-driven, relational, and adaptive systems innovation

In One Sentence

The AAIX Africa–Asia Transnational Innovation Ecosystem Fellows Program is a high-trust platform for emerging leaders to co-create and strengthen innovation ecosystems—drawing on PDIA, Theory U, and indigenous knowledge systems—to make Africa–Asia systems work better, together.