QING Innovation Track Update

But how are the teams doing now? What are they currently working on and how do they see the future? Three of the five teams are still active and will update us in this article.

Team Higher Himalaya Project from Nepal

Our team was selected to participate in QING Innovation Track in 2021. Our project is focused on agriculture in the Himalayan region which has challenges due to uneven and extreme topography and lack of basic infrastructure. In particular, the lack of electricity supply in this region means that high-tech storage is almost impossible to set up. For apple farmers, this means they have no access to cooling units and therefore a high risk of losing their harvested product.

The Higher Himalaya project aims to address this challenge by creating a cooling unit that operates without energy input. The project is aimed at apple farmers and is now being implemented on a small scale in the Jumla region. However, the project team already has plans to expand and replicate the concept in other regions. The Higher Himalaya project is being implemented by a team of four Agricultural Engineering students.

Our focus was on validating zero energy cold storage technology and obtaining funding. In the process, we received €2500 assistance from QING Innovation Track. It was a great experience for us. The trainings helped us in our personal development and we learned a lot about the corporate world.

Our team faced several challenges, such as infrastructure and harsh weather conditions, to continue developing Higher Himalaya. After obtaining funds, we worked to turn this idea into action. We completed our feasibility test and designs. Several trips to Jumla have been made, but now we lack funds to begin construction.

The QING Innovation Track allowed us to make more contacts and network with stakeholders. We will complete the study in 2023 and would like to continue this for a few more years. Although funding remains a challenge, the technical part of the project is progressing and we are already looking for opportunities to expand the service to other locations outside Nepal with similar climatic conditions.

Team Agriceng Cloud from Kenya

The QING Innovation Track gave us a springboard to start our professional careers as newly graduated engineers.

During the track, we received training on how to use collaboration tools such as Miro Boards. To this day, we use the tool to collaborate on our projects. We were also exposed to the intricacies of project management. The skills have proved immensely useful in managing both simple and complex engineering contracts.

We take engineering contracts from our clients related to climate change and execute them according to international standards, based on our years of experience in this field.

A recent assignment of ours is in collaboration with the Panel of Eminent Development Consultants. We are working with them to promote the direct use of geothermal energy. This is in response to the fact that many wells were not producing water this year due to a shift in the Suswq fault line along the Right Valley. Our idea to use the salty water from the wells for agricultural energy has been approved and is awaiting funding from the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment.

Throughout the process, we were inspired to start focusing on the potential of web applications, machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) in agricultural use cases. We are currently working with Geothermal Development Company to deploy IoT for their Geothermal Direct Use Cases and developing a technical website for the Engineering Services Directorate, Ministry of Agriculture, GOK.

The international exposure the QING Innovation Track has generated is also worth mentioning. Building on this, we have developed concept notes that have subsequently been funded by the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment and VI Forestry, among others.

Finally, as team leader, I (Samson L. Opanda) cannot overlook the personal value that the challenge has provided me. I have gained a different perspective on climate change and am convinced that it requires a new way of thinking. A way based on appreciating the social and multidisciplinary dimensions of the problem.

Team Hydropan Project

We are team Hydropan, consisting of five members from Kenya. In 2021, we participated in the QING Innovation Track with an innovative idea based on climate and smart agriculture.

Our team came up with the idea of setting up the hydropan project. We created a water conservation site where we dug a pit in the ground and planted ground covers to form a canopy. The project aimed to serve as a demonstrative training for the community in semi-arid areas of Kibwezi East subcounty in Makueni, Kenya.

This region receives little rainfall and local farmers can use the scarce water we collect for irrigation. The project culminated with funding from the QING Innovation Track. We were able to set up the hydropan in Lukenya University, Kenya. We planted and grew crops such as pumpkins and passion fruit. In addition to the crops grown, the conserved water was used to irrigate various crops. The crops are doing well and we have good returns from sales.

The project could be scaled up as more visitors borrowed the idea and settled in the region. Through social media, we promoted the hydroponics project. UNESCO was also interested and published the idea on their website.

Because of the growing demand for the Hydropan project for food security, we set ourselves a goal to build 200 hydropans in the region in the next 3 years. To achieve this goal, we are looking for NGOs involved in water harvesting and food security to help implement for the benefit of the community.

We as a team appreciate QING Innovation Track for their financial support and guidance, not to forget Mirjam Troost from WUR Student Challenges for her dedicated cooperative spirit.