(Ecofin Agency) - SAP, management and maintenance software and system developer, has commissioned its first co-innovation lab (COIL) in Africa. The infrastructure which will be established in South Africa will provide SAP a practical environment to innovate in collaboration with software solution partners, system integrators and technology partners.

Brett Parker, chief executive of SAP Africa said co-innovation labs is not only a mean to coping in the actual economy. He believes it can exponentially increase the speed of growth, thus avoiding waste. Often, great ideas die because companies isolate themselves while they could together work more efficiently and rapidly, and research would be much smarter, Parker said.

The lab’s objective is to boost competitive advantages, pulled by a greater productivity and efficiency across Africa. Its ultimate goal is meet populations’ digital transformation related demands.

SAP’s African co-innovation lab is the eleventh of the kind commissioned by the firm worldwide. Since the creation of its first lab in Palo Alto, U.S., SAP has replicated the experience in Brazil, Germany, Russia, Idia, Singapore, China, South Korea and Japan.

Muriel Edjo