The prototype is six times faster than current tests and aims to speed up diagnosis, the London-based global research charity Wellcome Trust and Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) said in a statement on Friday.
"A reliable, 15-minute test that can confirm cases of Ebola would be a key tool for effective management of the Ebola outbreak, allowing patients to be identified, isolated and cared for as soon as possible," said Val Snewin of the Wellcome Trust.
She said the test was designed to be suitable for remote field hospitals where electricity and cold storage are often scarce.
The trials, to be led by researchers from Dakar's Pasteur Institute at an Ebola treatment centre in Conakry in the coming weeks, will come as a welcome boon in Guinea which has lost 1200 people to Ebola.
The biggest Ebola epidemic on record has claimed around 5700 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the beginning of the year, according to the World Health Organisation.
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President Hollande pledged his support for Guinea after arriving in France's west African former colony on Friday.
"We have a duty to support you," he told his hosts, adding that "we are together with you in the struggle, in this battle" and thanking Guinea for containing the epidemic.
The visit, the first by a French president since 1999, has been touted as a bid to deliver "a message of solidarity" to Guinea as it battles the worst outbreak of Ebola since the virus was discovered in 1976.
France has pledged 100 million euros ($A150 million) as a contribution in the fight against the epidemic, focusing its efforts on Guinea.
France has also pledged to set up two training centres for health workers, one in France and one in Guinea. In addition, French biotechnology companies will set up rapid diagnostic tests in Africa.
