The “Symposium on Climate Change and Droughts Resilience in Africa” will focus on “building resilience to climate change and droughts in Africa”, meaning that it will serve the purpose of showcasing experiences from research, field projects and best practice to foster climate change adaptation among countries in the region, with a focus on droughts, which may be useful or implemented elsewhere. New techniques and technologies for climate smart agriculture have already shown some great potential and impact in Africa. Beyond agriculture, other climate-related sectors have seen a similar surge of innovation. From the clean energy sector with advances in solar power and battery storage to the water sector with new point-of-use water purification systems. It is likely that even more innovative technologies will arise from labs across the world in coming years. Therefore if climate solutions exist and climate threats are dire, this solutions need to employed with utmost urgency. One key challenge to deploying climate solutions on a large scale – particularly in developing countries is the capacity of local innovation ecosystems to adapt these solutions for local markets, and to provide a sustainable delivery model so these solutions can reach end users.