The Bio-Innovate Program Management Team (PMT) had a three-day extensive visit of Bio-Innovate consortia project run by Makerere University Kampala (MAK) on 12-15 July 2012.
BioInnovate is a new multidisciplinary competitive funding mechanism for biosciences and product orientated innovation activities in Eastern Africa. BioInnovate will run a Competitive Grants Scheme (CGS) targeted at research in four thematic areas chosen to support the AU/NEPAD agenda for science, technology and agriculture:
Project consortium 5 on ‘integrated process for sustainable agro-process waste treatment and climate change mitigation in eastern Africa’ is a Bio-Innovate consortium project that aims to integrate agro-industrial wastewater treatment with the production of biogas and bio-fertilizer as well as treated wastewater for enhanced agro-processing industrial and agricultural productivity.
Project consortium 4 is one of the nine Bio-Innovate consortia projects whose aim is to create innovative technologies that will produce mushrooms and bio-energy from coffee and sisal processing wastes while reducing environmental pollution in eastern Africa.
As part of the monitoring and review exercise for Bio-Innovate projects conducted between May and October 2012, the Bio-Innovate Program Management Team (PMT) traveled to Kampala, Uganda on 29-30 October to review implementation progress made by project 6 on ‘use of biosciences for value addition and diversification to enhance commercialization of sorghum and millet products in eastern Africa’.
This morning the program’s first gathering of its constituent scientific projects started in Addis Ababa. The three-day event was opened by Theresa Sengooba and aims to share the successes and challenges of implementing Bio-Innovate’s activities in the eastern Africa region.
On 25-28 February 2013, Bio-Innovate Program successfully held its first scientific conference that was attended by over 150 participants ranging from the Program’s implementing partners and other stakeholders, donor community, science, technology and innovation policy makers, and the private sector.
In most of Africa, sweetpotato and cassava are the staple food and nutrition security crops that play a key role as food security and income generating crops particularly when the mainstream crops e.g. cereals have poor harvests.
KENYA: Africa still lags behind in Bio-science capacities – Africa Science News
UGANDA: Developing a clean seed system for sweet potatoes and cassava – Innovations Africa
