One year after the kick-off of the TeTraPHar Africa project, the Institute for Sustainability in Civil Engineering (INaB) gladly welcomed Francis Mwaijande from Mzumbe University (MU) and Tomson Akankwasa from the Uganda Cleaner Production Centre (UCPC) to Aachen. TeTraPHar Africa is a BMBF funded project submitted and coordinated by INaB on behalf of RWTH Aachen University.
The triangular cooperation between RWTH, MU and UCPC strengthens the international cooperation between Africa and Europe, in particular Germany. The international partnership between the African institutions also promotes a strong South-South cooperation and represents an excellent model of knowledge transfer.
The primary goal of TeTraPHar Africa is a joint gradual strengthening of technology transfer structures to enable collaborations between science and industry in promoting the use of sustainable technologies in companies, especially in SMEs. In addition, the project contributes to the achievement of several SDGs of Agenda 2030 in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, there are contributions to SDG 1 “No poverty” and SDG 2 “Zero hunger” by addressing food security, SDG 12 “Responsible consumption and production” by promoting sustainable agriculture and SDG 13 “Climate Action” by increasing the use of renewable energy.
The African representatives exchanged ideas with INaB on Life Cycle Assessment using a dedicated software and with RWTH Innovation experts on technology transfer and business relationship management. The Aachen visit also included a stop at the DigitalHub and the RWTH incubator for start-ups. Prior to this visit, several activities have already been implemented in year 1 of the project. INaB trained ten researchers from UCPC and MU in sustainability strategies and sustainability assessments and a survey on post-harvest loss was conducted targeting African farmers and solar drying house manufacturers followed by a workshop held in Tanzania during which the findings were disclosed.
The visit of the African partners will be closely followed by the launch of activities to develop a mobile platform to link farmers, research and industry. In addition, in the beginning of 2022, a technology exhibition will be hosted in Uganda to physically bring together the main actors of the sustainable technology value chain. We look forward to the partnerships that will be established and networking opportunities that will be made available through the mobile App.
TeTraPHar Africa – RWTH Innovation GmbH
RWTH Aachen University auf LinkedIn: #research #innovation #sustainability
