Publieke samenvattingen pilot SBIR oproep Innovatie uitdagingen in Ghana, Ivoorkust, Marokko en Oeganda

De ondernemers krijgen 6 maanden en een budget van maximaal € 34.000 per project om de haalbaarheid van de innovatie in het betreffende land te onderzoeken en een plan te schrijven voor een vervolgtraject. 

Deze SBIR kent verschillende thema's. Centraal staan innovatieve oplossingen die passen in de lokale context van de doellanden. Samenwerken met lokale partijen en organisaties die de innovaties kunnen implementeren is daarbij noodzakelijk.

De uitdagingen zijn divers en vallen onder de volgende thema’s: 

• Circulaire economie 
• Digitalisering in diverse sectoren
• Duurzame energie productie
• Duurzaam transport

De 16 winnende projecten

Hieronder vind u de project beschrijvingen. Omdat dit internationale projecten zijn, zijn de samenvattingen in het Engels.

Oeganda

BKVV architecten and Gestures -Local Modular and Sustainable furniture: a Ugandan approach to be climate friendly

Preserving Uganda’s forests by designing, manufacturing and promoting sustainable practices in furniture manufacturing is the vision of the partnership between Gestures Furnishings and bkvv architecten. Through meticulous research of local materials, technological innovation, and customer-centric approaches, this project seeks to redefine the way furniture is designed, manufactured and embraced. The aspiration is to introduce and establish a culture of utilizing eco-conscious materials (sustainable) and modular design concepts. The embrace of sustainable and modular furniture will meet the evolving needs of consumers in Uganda and foster a more sustainable and resilient future for the furniture industry and environment as a whole.

Agri-wallet Holding b.v. and Enter Africa - Telalila online labour platform Uganda

Telalila creates jobs by connecting young Africans with employers and customers in the global digital economy , providing them a way to register their digital skills and assets (IP). Telalila’s online labour platform makes it easy for these two sides to connect and transact. The potential of the global digital economy is enormous but young Africans currently face many barriers. Telalila removes these barriers and creates economic growth, jobs, and opportunities for many young Africans.

Cycling out of Poverty NL and Cycling out of Poverty Uganda - FairBike Lease Plan

The rapid pace of motorisation and urbanisation in Uganda, results in widespread traffic congestion and air pollution, causing high rates of respiratory and other air-pollution related diseases. CooP-Uganda, in consortium with Roetz Bikes, CooP-Africa and Behold International, aims to promote sustainable bicycle mobility in Ugandan cities, by making circular bicycles available and affordable for the growing middle class, via a full-service bicycle lease plan: the FairBike Lease Plan. This way a contribution is made towards safer and more sustainable transport, reducing congestion, improving social equality by making mobility available for everyone.

SmartFarming B.V and Ajinya Mixed Farm Limited – Akello & Rose, A.I. chatbots for irrigation and farming advice to smallholders

A Dutch innovative company and an Ugandan agricultural entrepreneur looking for solutions for a social problem and climate impact to be mitigated, a perfect recipe for an experimental innovation project. Aiming to: 1000 – 5000 Smallholder farmers will improve their income from agriculture Ajinya Mixed Farm (600ha) will become a sustainable agronomic producer and aggregator for crops to feed Uganda. SmartFarming will be the service provider of the smallholder chatbots “Akello & Rose” in various sustainable farming areas in Uganda and beyond. 

Ghana

Spaak Circular Solutions B.V. and Green Construct ALS Ghana Limited (GCALS) - Aluminum Sludge Processing for Use in Clinkers

Green Construct ALS (GC) and Spaak Circular Solutions (Spaak) have set up a collaboration for this project, supported by Royal Haskoning DHV and Netics, and are exploring future cooperation with a viable business case. The partners will focus on the future production of calcined aluminum sludge, investigating the processing of the alum sludge into clinker as a raw material and find the best initial market fit and launching customer. They aim to develop a sustainable and price fitting replacement for clinker that can also be used as a tiling replacement or as pozzolanic and composite cement.

Spaak Circular Solutions B.V. and Godfrey K. M. Tietaah Memorial Ventures - Organic Residue Streams processed into Organic Yarns

Memorial Ventures and Spaak Circular Solutions have set up a collaboration for exploring the production of yarns out of two organic residue streams, where the partners will first focus on the production of fibres, from which yarn production and usage can be realized. Working together with local farmers and European clients the partners will create a viable business case and validate the technical part of the innovative fibre and yarn production process.

Royal Haskoning DHV and NAYA Success Axis - Explore dehydrators powered by biowaste from the farm

NAYA Success Axis is a business in Ghana, that raises chickens to sell meat and eggs. They generate various types of waste that can be valorised, such as egg shells, plant waste, excrement. The idea of the SBIR innovation is to use these waste streams to generate heat for a dehydrator to dry chicken meat into chicken chips, which increases shelf life. For the research, a small-scale containerized digester will be tested to see whether it works efficiently with these types of waste. Impact can be created by creating work, reducing waste, and an increase in health and well-being.

TNO and West African Feeds – EntoBox: Turnkey insect-farming system for smallholder farmer communities in Ghana

The EntoBox initiative upcycles post-harvest waste into insect-derived protein, tackling the global challenge of allocating 36% of crop calories to livestock feed amidst limited arable land and a burgeoning population. Employing innovative insect farming techniques and researching scalable alternative protein production, the project creates economic opportunities for local communities. Combining innovative insect farming techniques with scalable alternative protein research, the project transforms post-harvest waste into income-generating ventures, contributing to sustainable waste management, responsible production, and local community growth. This socially responsible solution showcases the potential for global impact, establishing a scalable model for eco-friendly waste-to-value protein production in Africa. 

Marokko 

Marin and Atarec - Upgrading WAVE BEAT performance, wave energy technology 

Morocco has high ambitious in reducing CO₂ emissions and wave energy is an interesting source. If Morocco can harvest only 5% of the available wave power in Morocco it could supply 50% of the total electricity production. ATAREC has developed a wave energy technology called WAVE BEAT, which makes benefit from existing infrastructures exposed to sea to produce green energy. Within this project ATAREC will benefit from the support of Dutch Expertise (MARIN and RHDHV), to directly support in two of its main challenges – time to market and technology competitiveness – through accelerating research and development and enhance and upgrade the performance of its solutions.

BEHOLDING B.V. and Foodeals - Foodeals platform to reduce food waste in the MEA region

Foodeals addresses the food waste crisis in the MEA region through an innovative application, connecting unsold food with consumers as well as charities. One-third of global food production is wasted, causing significant environmental, social, and economic repercussions. Food waste contributes to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, and 2.5 billion tonnes wasted annually, while 828 million people suffer daily hunger. The economic toll surpasses $1.2 trillion yearly. Foodeals addresses this paradigm by utilizing cutting-edge AI-driven technologies, optimizing food consumption. The platform strives to combat environmental degradation, alleviate societal hunger, and foster a more sustainable and efficient food consumption ecosystem.

Agri-wallet Holding b.v. and IZI Proteine - IZI Proteine insect farm Morocco 

This project recycles food-waste and contributes to novel protein for feed and food in Morocco by removing barriers and increasing the economic viability of the insect value chain. IZI Proteine’s insect farm provides knowledge and data for further upscaling of the Moroccan insect sector. This will reduce food-waste and reduce greenhouse gases and will replace animal protein by insect protein and will generate inclusive, sustainable, eco-friendly economic growth and employment for women and men.

Quantified B.V. and PCS Agri - Realization of advanced prediction models based on vision analysis and real time, distributed sensor

More than 70% of the global cultivated area is covered by foil or plastic greenhouses. Being technologically underserved, the greatest impact on productivity and quality of food production can be achieved within this specific greenhouse segment. In this project, PCS-AGRI and Quantified will collaborate on a system for predicting yield, quality, and harvest timing of tomatoes grown in foil and plastic greenhouses, while reducing the consumption of water. The current model relies solely on visual input from images of tomatoes in the greenhouse. The predictive power of the existing model can be significantly enhanced by incorporating real-time distributed climatic and soil sensory data. Of particular interest will be the relation between visual crop data and soil moisture data. This requires the fusion of two very different types of sensor data, obtained through different acquisition methods and stored on separated platforms in different countries. The acquisition and fusion of these datasets, in order to enable more accurate predictions about crop growth in relation to in particular soil  moisture data, is the goal of this feasibility study.

Ivoorkust

Royal Haskoning DHV and Biosave - The application favoured by the manufacture of organic fertilisers

Biosave is a business that cares about farmers, regardless of the type of cultivation practiced, but also about the environment. As a result, Biosave has set up an artisanal composting unit consisting of a microorganism biofactory (useful for agriculture) and a plot of land receiving agricultural product waste. The effective use of microorganisms to initiate fermentation allows for predominance in the soil: of constructive and positive microorganisms. As the production time is long, and the storage warehouse is small, BioSave wants to have a technical aid in microbiology to help improve the production time and the quality of the compost. The SBIR innovation wants to go from recycling from 100 tons per year to 1000 tons per year, and is therefore the scale-up and the improvement of the composting process itself.

Digi Surfer B.V. and Ceedow - Digital Education for Artisans

Digi Surfer and Ceedow will explore how they can support artisans getting more work through the platform of Ceedow with the education packages of Digi Surfer. The current situation in Côte d’Ivoire is that many artisans have a limited reach and are not able to get enough work. The innovation of Ceedow, to create a platform through which these artisans can showcase their work and find clients, can solve this challenge directly, but reaching the artisans can be difficult. This is solved by partnering with Digi Surfer, to offer digital skills and professional development through their education.

Coolfinity Medical B.V. and Limawa – Fish Refrigeration: Eco-friendly, Solarpowered Hub

The feasibility study aims to assess the potential for a sustainable refrigerated stall for Ivory Coast's fish markets. It addresses challenges in the fish industry, offering a solar powered solution with a 24–48 hour cooling buffer. The collaboration between Coolfinity and Limawa combines refrigeration expertise with solar-powered innovations. The study covers market research, technical feasibility, financial viability. The proposed solution targets the specific needs of West African fishmongers, addressing economic and environmental challenges. The project envisions becoming a market leader, with future revenue potential in West African expansion and diversification into other food markets.

MEDx eHealthCenter B.V. and SkanMed - Project Horizon

The Horizon Project, using the SkanMed platform, aims to revolutionise maternal and child care in rural areas of Côte d'Ivoire. Faced with a shortfall of 3 million consultations by 2021, this project aims to provide crucial access to specialised care through teleconsultations. By equipping rural health centres with connected technologies, it targets 300,592 missed consultations in 5 years, improving access to care, reducing travel and costs, and increasing the quality of care for mothers and children in these underserved regions.