Technically referred to as Specialized Outreach and Knowledge Establishments (SPOKEs), the centres will be deployed in strategic locations across Africa to demonstrate solutions, provide technical assistance and cascade knowledge to the local markets.
Plans are underway to establish the first specialized knowledge centre on cooling and cold-chain solutions in Africa.
The centre - to be set-up and operated by ACTS - will aim to develop and disseminate expertise on resilient cooling and cold-chain solutions.
It will be used to demonstrate solutions and cascade knowledge to local markets in order to accelerate deployment of sustainable smart cold-chain including Community Cooling Hubs (CCH).
Technically referred to as Specialized Outreach and Knowledge Establishments (SPOKEs), the centres will be deployed in strategic locations across Africa to demonstrate solutions, provide technical assistance and cascade knowledge to the local markets.
The initiative is part of the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain (ACES), which will serve as a “hub” to undertake collaborative research, test new equipment, develop knowledge, capacity building and training programmes.
Working with governments, industry, academia, communities and wider stakeholders, ACES is a comprehensive, one-stop hub for state-of-the-art technical assistance and knowledge transfer along the ‘farm-to-fork’ continuum.
The SPOKE in Kenya, to be located at Konza Tehnopolis, will focus on the agriculture and health sectors, with the potential to scale up throughout Africa and create a template for roll-out into other markets throughout Africa.
Specifically, the centre will develop, test, demonstrate and deploy fit-for-market pathways to net zero smart cold-chain and cooling at scale in Africa; improve knowledge on post-harvest behaviour of food to optimise systems and maintain nutritional and physiological quality.
A simplified framework of the SPOKE model for cooling solutions.
It will also provide technical business assistance and training to small-holder farmers and rural communities and Build the skilled engineering workforce for installation and maintenance. In addition the center will conduct research on future-proof, localised solutions for food loss reduction, exchange lessons learned via a huband- spoke model and build public awareness on the benefits of using sustainable cooling.
What has been done so far?
