Beyond Breakthroughs: Innovation Communicated

About this episode

The episode discusses the importance of effective science communication for deep-tech startups and features insights from expert Eva Kagiri-Kalanzi.

Beyond Breakthroughs: Innovation Communicated (with Eva Kagiri-Kalanzi) What happens when science-led startups win on technical breakthroughs but lose on the message? Research shows that clear science communication can increase an innovation’s public adoption by over 60%, yet up to 80% of deep-tech failures are driven by commercialisation and messaging gaps rather than flaws in the core science. In this episode of Discovering Africa Thru Technology host Raziah Quallatein Mwawanga sits down with Eva Kagiri-Kalanzi, a Science Communication and international development expert from Synapse-Collaborative & AISCE. With nearly 20 years of experience shaping innovation ecosystems between the UK and Africa, Eva breaks down why traditional agency models fail deep-tech founders and how fragmented messaging stalls critical solutions. We discuss the birth of AISCE, a pioneering platform bridging the gap between complex science, strategy, and governance. Eva addresses the rising "AI trust gap" in high-stakes fields where factual errors or AI hallucinations can decimate investor confidence overnight and outlines why a strict "human in the loop" approach is vital. Deep…

People in this episode

Host: Raziah Mwawanga

Guest: Eva Kagiri-Kalanzi

Topics covered

• science communication
• deep-tech
• innovation
• African startups
• AI trust gap

Keywords

• science communication
• innovation
• deep-tech failures
• AI trust gap
• African experts

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Synapse-Collaborative, AISCE

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