Catalyst is Thinkng's research procurement programme — connecting registered researchers and research organisations to paid, commercially framed research mandates from African private sector enterprises. Register on the platform to be eligible to bid for Research Calls in your domain when they open.

Research & Knowledge Systems / Private Sector R&D / Innovation Ecosystems

Engagement Based

TBC

December 15, 2026

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February 15, 2027

Catalyst is open to all registered Thinkng platform participants with relevant research capability, including: Postgraduate students and early-career researchers with relevant domain expertise, Individual researchers and research teams, University research departments, Contract Research Organizations (CROs) and independent research organizations. To be eligible to bid for Research Calls, you must be registered on the Thinkng platform. Research Calls are open competitions, every registered participant in the relevant vertical can bid. Selection is made on proposal quality.

Africa's private sector needs locally relevant research to make better business decisions, develop new products, and solve operational challenges. But most enterprises do not have the internal infrastructure to commission and manage research effectively and most African researchers/research organisations have no structured, reliable pathway into commercially relevant, paid research work. Catalyst was built to close this gap. It creates the market infrastructure, standardized briefs, open competitive calls, platform-managed contracts, and escrow-protected payments that makes private sector R&D procurement possible at scale. For researchers, it means access to a growing pipeline of funded, structured research mandates that would otherwise be invisible or inaccessible.

Catalyst is Thinkng's research procurement programme, connecting African private sector enterprises with researchers and research organisations capable of delivering high-quality, commercially relevant research. When an enterprise partner has a defined research challenge, Thinkng develops it into a structured Research Brief and publishes it as an open, competitive Research Call on the platform. Registered researchers, research teams, university research departments, independent specialists, and Contract Research Organisations can review the brief, submit a proposal, and — if selected — deliver the research under a platform-managed contract with milestone-linked escrow payments. Every Research Call is an open, merit-based competition. You compete on the strength of your proposal. Thinkng manages the contracting, payment, and delivery governance, so you focus on the research. Research Calls will span five areas: Agricultural Intelligence, Health and Biomedical Innovation, Resource and Environmental Technology, Digital and Financial Systems, and Industrial and Manufacturing. Catalyst is currently in its foundation phase. Register your interest below to be notified when the first Research Calls go live.