While the SEZs have been the pillar of the development of investment and trade in Southeast Asia, thanks to industrialization approaches based on a triple territorial, sectoral and technological integration, they are struggling to take off in Africa. Indeed the continent has only some 200 SEZs (less than the Philippines alone which has 400 SEZs) out of an estimated global inventory of 5,000 SEZs, nearly 4,000 of which are in Asia. With the energy transition and new climate challenges, the economic models of the SEZs are called upon to evolve to ensure a greater role as a catalyst for economic development. This is all the more true in Africa, where SEZs can be protected business ecosystems or even islands of prosperity with infrastructure and a business environment adapted to the development of start-ups and SMEs.