Participants from the University of Waterloo and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi were selected for an event around a sustainability topic based on the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy’s ‘Innovation Lab’ framework. During the pandemic, the goal of the event was to build connections between students and institutions, and to challenge students to work together to use their skills and address a sustainability issue that impacts both their countries.
Theme
Both India and Canada face issues regarding Sustainable Development Goal number 7 – access to affordable and clean energy. In particular, remote and off-grid communities in both countries have reduced or costly electricity services, and in some cases do not have access to clean-burning cooking fuels.
Students created projects that are cost-effective, provided meaningful services to community members, placed community voices and opinions at the forefront of decision making, and are planned for self-sufficiency within three years. The innovation lab brought together students to design sustainable energy solutions for both communities, given information on technology and costs.
Outcome
Students were split into groups of three - five, with a mix of students from each university, and assigned a sub-topic: technology, economy, society, or environment. After individual discussions with their group members, and three sets of twenty-minute meetings for groups to discuss with other groups, the four groups developed a single cohesive solution for each community, combining technology, economy, society, and environmental aspects. Students briefly presented their solution, and then participated in a guided discussion and debrief to the Innovation Lab.
 |
Professor Ian Rowlands, Associate Vice-President International at the University of Waterloo |
 |
Professor Naveen Garg, Dean of International Programs at IITD |
 |
Professor Jatin Nathwani, Faculty of Environment and Engineering, University of Waterloo |
 |
Professor SK Tyagi, Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IITD |
 |
Professor Dipanjan Basu, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo |
 |
Professor Dibakar Rakshit, Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IITD |
 |
Dr. Abdelsalam Eajal, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo |
Agenda
| 8:30am-8:40am EST /7:00pm-7:10pm IST: | Introductions and opening remarks from Professor Rowlands and Professor Garg. |
| 8:40am-9:00am /7:10pm-7:30pm: | Individual group discussions — each of the four groups go into individual breakout rooms to touch base. Professors may join breakout rooms to observe and provide feedback if desired, or leave and return for the presentations. |
| 9:00am-9:15am /7:30pm-7:45pm: | Technology & economy, social & environmental teams discuss. Professors welcomed to join breakout rooms. |
| 9:15am-9:30am /7:45pm-8:00pm: | Social & economy, technology & environmental teams discuss. Professors welcomed to join breakout rooms. |
| 9:30am-9:45am /8:00pm-8:15pm: | Technology & social, economy & environmental teams discuss. Professors welcomed to join breakout rooms. |
| 9:45am-9:55am /8:15pm-8:25pm: | Final discussion and presentation preparation in individual group breakout rooms. |
| 9:55am-10:30am /8:25pm-9:00pm: | Group presentations (15 minutes), feedback and questions from professors (10 minutes), closing discussion (10 minutes) |
| 10:30am-11:00am /9:00pm-9:30pm: | Feedback to the organizers, social discussion among students. |
The ‘innovation lab’ is a non-traditional workshop format wherein participants focus more on what they want to do next and how they might work together rather than on sharing past results. Deep discussions in small groups are a feature, and we avoid ‘death by powerpoint’. These are invite-only events that feature a highly diverse set of participants (expertise, nationality, age, gender, etc.). The 2019 event represents our second full-scale innovation lab.
This event aims to bring together experts and practitioners in the field of energy access for the purpose of developing new insights on the delivery of affordable energy services in regions with limited access to electricity.
The goal is to produce a set of working papers that outline follow-up activities which advance off-grid energy innovation to support key end user needs/energy services, including:
|
1. Business services 2. Agriculture 3.Electric cooking 4.Electric mobility |
5. Education & public health 6. Clean water access 7.Communications & entertainment 8. Heating & cooling |
Engineers Without Borders (University of Waterloo Chapter) Ideas Without Borders Podcast
Hosted by Simon Lin, the creator and founder of Ideas Without Borders
| Part 1: Tackling energy poverty through globally established networks |
| Part 2: Getting to know the Energy Access Sector |
Full Interviews
| Ambika Opal |
| Jabesh Amissah-Arthur |
| Kristy Dixon |
| Malcolm McCulloch |
| Mohammed Elkadragy |
| Rajnish Jain |
| Victoria Filipelli |
Participant Profile
- Energy access experts from various academic disciplines
- Micro-grid developers and development institutions involved in electrification projects
- Rural economics and inclusive business development experts
- Individuals with extensive energy sector experience in the Global South
Speakers
| Dan Kammen Founding Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley |
| Thomas Gottschalk
CEO of Mobisol Group |
Venue
Research Institute for Sustainability at gfz
Organizers
- University of Waterloo - Waterloo, Ontario
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Karlsruhe, Germany
- Waterloo Global Science Initiative - Waterloo, Ontario
- Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies - Potsdam, Germany
- UC Berkeley - Berkeley, California
- Lehigh University - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
- University of Southampton - Southampton, United Kingdom
- Aalto University - Helsinki, Finland
- Carnegie Mellon University - Kigali, Rwanda
Participants
- Aalborg University - Aalbord, Finland
- Ashesi University - Berekuso, Ghana
- University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley, California
- University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
- E3 Analytics - Berlin, Germany
- Ecobee - Toronto, Ontario
- Ecoligo GmbH - Accra, Ghana
- Endeva - Berlin, Germany
- ENERGIA - Netherlands
- ENVenture - San Fransico, California / Kampala, Uganda
- Hitch - Waterloo, Ontario
- Infinite Potentials Consulting - Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies - Potsdam, Germany
- Kenya Power & Lighting Company - Nairobi, Kenya
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - Karlsruhe, Germany
- Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) - Cambridge, Massachusetts
- ME SOLshare Ltd - Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Mobisol - Tanzania
- University of Oxford - Oxford, United Kingdom
- People Centered Business and Economic Initiative (IBEKA) - Jakarta/Panaruban, Indonesia
- Power For All/ Clean Tech Hub - Abuja, Nigeria
- Reiner Lemoine Institute (RLI) - Berlin Germany
- University of Southampton, United Kingdom
- TramaTecnoAmbiental - Barcelona, Spain
- Technical University of Denmark - Lyngby, Denmark
- Uganda Rural Electrification Agency - Kampala, Uganda
- University of Waterloo - Waterloo, Canada
- World Hope International - Washington, DC