Iraqi Innovation Alliance

By Rasha Al-Bani

The Iraqi Innovation Alliance is a cross-border, semi-formalized alliance that merges innovation hubs all over Iraq in one national network. It currently has 8 members: The Station, Recoded, FikraSpace, KAPITA, Five One Labs, Mosul Space, Science Camp & Field Ready, with a rotated coordinator every 3 months who is responsible for coordinating the activities of the alliance. The alliance was born out of an organic Iraqi movement with the support of GIZ.

The purpose of IIA is to increase the visibility of ICT entrepreneurship and employment in Iraq, to widen the entrepreneurs’ network and foster mutual capacity building. The alliance seeks to reach untapped areas in Iraq that have lacked access to opportunities and to provide support to young Iraqi job-seekers, especially between the ages of 15 to 35, investors, entrepreneurs and private sector companies. Lastly, it should eventually represent the needs and interests of the ecosystem on a government level, i.e., lobbying for policies that create a business-friendly environment for entrepreneurs.

The Station spoke with a representative of the World Bank regarding their potential involvement with the IIA. He specified that the World Bank Group stands ready to support the development of IIA on multiple fronts. The first is to help strategize and establish the IIA as an industry-level association that is inclusive of a superstructure across Iraq. Second, to support an organizational development of the association and build dialogue with the Government of Iraq about law, regulations and policies that conveys messages of the ecosystem. Lastly, to help formalize a digital footprint for the IIA and its development.