With the advent of Industry 4.0 has come challenges and opportunities in the manufacturing sector as well as manufacturing education. Smart Manufacturing Engineering Education for Knowledge Economy (SME2KE) develops postgraduate manufacturing curricula (with emphasis on laser-based manufacturing (LbM) technologies) and pedagogical approaches to strengthen future manufacturing engineers’ competences for transforming their national economies to knowledge-based society as they improve profitability of businesses. SME2KE aims at (i) training the knowledge, competencies and performance of students and academic instructors, (ii) updating the existing master’s curriculum by incorporating taught modules including elements of LbM applications, big data science (BDS), machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) towards empowering graduates with skills to fabricate products sustainably without defects and wastes; (iii) developing a unique African e-platform to support education and training related to LbM technology at Masters level. SME2KE enables partner HEIs to demonstrate relevance in developing responsive activities which promote socio-economic recovery, growth, and prosperity by developing innovative curricula which are linked to manufacturing business activities. It contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Green Deal, digital transformation and data technologies, alliances for sustainable growth and jobs by supporting a successful green and sustainable global economic recovery in the partner countries. SME2KE reforms postgraduate manufacturing education by imparting graduates with problem-solving and entrepreneurial skills via problem-based learning (PBL) methods, students-centred teaching, and and real-life manufacturing challenges. SME2KE establishes sustainable manufacturing education pedagogies in the local context via collaboration among the LbM research establishment, manufacturing industries, and academic institutions.

KijaniBox is a highly innovative project that will accelerate the African green transition and provide energy access for small businesses along the food supply chain. The target is to leverage the organic waste and transform them into green energy for cooling and refrigeration applications in order to prevent food losses and sanitary risks. The project aims to demonstrate the concept in 3 pilot sites in partnership with local waste management companies, food value chain actors and cold supply chain industries. In order to implement the concept, the project proposes highly innovative approaches called “Green Transition Enablers”. These are i) KijaniBox System itself, a small-scale, off-grid, industrial-grade waste to cooling system ii) Application Solution Boxes (ASB), application specific KijaniBox solution for three use cases iii) Co-creation Factory, enabling the local manufacturing capabilities for cost-effective solution, and finally iv) Business-in-a-Box, a comprehensive toolkit for entrepreneurs and stakeholders business support in order to ensure successful take-up and commercialization of the solution. KijaniBox is a highly innovative driven consortium composed of fourteen (14) entities, 7 European and 7 African partners, coming from 6 different countries. The ultimate target of KijaniBox is to pave the way for long-term sustainable economic growth and job creation opportunities in Africa and Europe.

The LEAP-RE programme aligns with and responds to the AU-EU high-level policies and specific objectives of the CCSE Roadmap. It seeks to create a long-term partnership of African and European stakeholders in a quadruple helix approach: government (programme owners and funding agencies), research and academia, private sector, and civil society. Impact will be sought by creating a framework, methodology, and cooperation model. The aim is to reduce fragmentation by aligning existing bilateral and multilateral frameworks. LEAP-RE establishes and jointly implements research, innovation, and capacity-building activities that respond to the Multi-Annual Roadmaps (MARs) developed in PRE-LEAP-RE. The programme opted for a large-scale, inclusive consortium of 96 partners from 34 countries and 2 international organisations, to ensure a broad thematic, geographical and stakeholder coverage, and to demonstrate the feasibility of the collaboration and build trust in view of a long-term partnership addressing the post-2025 period. LEAP-RE draws on the experience and partnership developed in PRE-LEAP-RE, which conceptualised and developed a framework for long-term, bi-regional cooperation in research, innovation, and capacity building in renewable energies. This partnership is further strengthened by previous collaboration between partners in other projects supporting the EU-Africa HLPD on STI, such as LEAP-Agri, ERAfrica, LEAP4FNSSA, RINEA, and CAAST-Net Plus. Furthermore, the proposal includes a number of R&I partners, 8 individual projects (formalised as Work Packages), which were chosen among expressions of interest received in late 2019.