In such a complex world, no one can be expected to understand everything. But for energy expert Vaclav Smil, there are limits. In his view, it is inexcusable that most of us don’t know
the first thing about the basic workings of modern life and the technologies that keep us all alive. It’s not all rocket science, he says. “Appreciating how wheat is grown or steel is made... are not the same as asking... somebody to comprehend femtochemistry.”...[more]
Zeetin Engineering Nigeria – Metal Parts Fabricator
An innovative and precision engineering company based in Nigeria, Zeetin Engineering Limited, is set to begin the exportation of heavy-duty metal products and other automotive spare parts to international markets...[more]
Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation https://youtu.be/SvOJYXbofMw
From the Royal Academy of Engineering:
Cape Town startups stake their claim in the small satellite industry by @thedavidoni
From Hardware Things:
On a sunny day in November 2013, the staff and students of the French South African Institute of Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in Cape Town, South Africa, waited with bated breath. 10,000 kilometres away, the TsetpisoSat - a cube satellite they had spent five years working on - was being launched in Yasny, Russia. The satellite, named for a sesotho word that means "promise," was the first cube satellite built on the African continent...[more]
DNA-based Circuits May Be the Future of Medicine, and This Software Program Will Get Us There Faster
From Spectrum:
Biological circuits, made of synthetic DNA, have incredibly vast and important medical applications. Even though this technology is still early-stage, the approach has been used to create tests for diagnosing cancer and identifying internal injuries, such as traumatic brain injury, hemorrhagic shock, and more. As well, synthetic biological circuits can be used to precisely deliver drugs into cells, at specific doses as needed...[more]
Meet Kenneth Guantai (@kennido1982) founder of ‘Tuk Tuk’ manufacturer Auto-Truck
Zenger profilesAuto-Truck founded by Kenneth Guantai:
"A Kenyan innovator, Kenneth Guantai, who has developed electric tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaws) and handcarts, hopes to mass-produce them in December 2021, after receiving orders from several East African countries.
“I have received proposals from business people in countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo who want me to set up assembly lines,” Guantai told Zenger News."...[more]
Decline sets in when technical companies fall below a certain threshold of "making things" within their stack – How Tech Loses Out over at Companies, Countries and Continents by @PowerDNS_Bert
A must-read from Bert Hubert
Hardware Garage, Nigeria will help you grow your Hardware Startup
The Hardware Garage is a centre for local content promotion in Nigeria. A private driven entity where product ideas or prototypes are turned into commercially viable products/company.
We are a team of passionate engineers, educators, entrepreneurs, business managers and investors who believe in the abundant human capital in Africa. We are driven by the historical successes of local content creation and are turning selling and sellable ideas or products in Nigeria into locally produced goods. By this, we are not only saving forex, we are also creating more jobs for Nigerians and breeding a stronger human capital for the future.
Co-Founded by Kunle Olukotun SambaNova Systems Raises $676M in Series D, Surpasses $5B Valuation and Becomes World’s Best-Funded AI Startup
SambaNova Systems (Co-Founded by Kunle Olukotun), the company building the industry’s most advanced software, hardware and services to run AI applications, today announced a $676 million Series D funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2*. The round includes additional new investors Temasek and GIC, plus existing backers including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Intel Capital, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Walden International and WRVI...[more]
American University Cairo is leading the way in value creation…"AUC has launched its second spinoff company, Suitera"
WAMDA reports:
The American University in Cairo (AUC) recently launched the second University spinoff company Suitera, a semiconductor startup that aims to provide tools and solutions that help handle the complexity involved in the design of next generation integrated circuits, such as 5G circuits. The company was founded in 2020 by Yehea Ismail, professor of electronics and communication engineering at AUC and the director of the nanoelectronics and devices center at AUC and Zewail City, as well as Magdy Abadir and Eby Friedman who are veterans of the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry. Walden Rhines, a leading figure in the Electronic Design Automation space, invested $100 thousand into AUC's latest spinoff, Suitera, indicating successful prospects for the company. The company has amassed $230K in investment in early stages. Suitera now has one viable product being tested by global market leaders, another product in development, with more products on the way...[more]
Taking a look at Molecular Pumps and Motors
Abstract:
Pumps and motors are essential components of the world as we know it. From the complex proteins that sustain our cells, to the mechanical marvels that power industries, much we take for granted is only possible because of pumps and motors. Although molecular pumps and motors have supported life for eons, it is only recently that chemists have made progress toward designing and building artificial forms of the microscopic machinery present in nature. The advent of artificial molecular machines has granted scientists an unprecedented level of control over the relative motion of components of molecules through the development of kinetically controlled, away-from-thermodynamic equilibrium chemistry. We outline the history of pumps and motors, focusing specifically on the innovations that enable the design and synthesis of the artificial molecular machines central to this Perspective. A key insight connecting biomolecular and artificial molecular machines is that the physical motions by which these machines carry out their function are unambiguously in mechanical equilibrium at every instant. The operation of molecular motors and pumps can be described by trajectory thermodynamics, a theory based on the work of Onsager, which is grounded on the firm foundation of the principle of microscopic reversibility. Free energy derived from thermodynamically non-equilibrium reactions kinetically favors some reaction pathways over others. By designing molecules with kinetic asymmetry, one can engineer potential landscapes to harness external energy to drive the formation and maintenance of geometries of component parts of molecules away-from-equilibrium, that would be impossible to achieve by standard synthetic approaches...[more]
How to start a Robot Revolution https://www.redhat.com/en/open-source-stories/robots/breaking-the-wheel
This is the story of how ROS went from being an academic side project to a platform that is revolutionizing the world of robotics...[more]
A New form of Manufacturing – The Microfactory from @arrival https://youtu.be/_X9ge_W_ZPA
From Arrival:
Challenging the traditional production line approach, Microfactories allow the production process to be more dynamic and flexible, with each robotic cell having multiple functions rather than just one sole purpose. Arrival's Microfactory approach not only sets out to revolutionise the manufacturing of electric vehicles but also has the potential to become a new norm for factory production.
The concept of the Microfactory allows communities to become an integral part of the process, with local Microfactories acting as the sole provider of electric vehicles for that particular region.
Ben Feringa on Nanotechnology : The Art of Building Small https://youtu.be/8li7Y5S9-T8
From MoleCluesTV:
How Bangladesh’s shipbuilding industry: How breakers turned into builders
An overview of Bangladesh's shipbuilding industry from Al Jazeera & Dhaka Tribune:
With an increasing number of orders from both local and global buyers, the shipbuilding industry of Bangladesh is flourishing rapidly, contributing to diversification of the country’s export basket and generating employment opportunities. Since 2009, Bangladeshi shipbuilders have earned $170 million by exporting small- and medium-sized ships to 14 countries...[more]
Tinkertech Zimbabwe – A company whose goal is to empower students to be makers through invention and creativity.
TinkerTech is an electronic components shop supported by educational tutorials.
What Practical Machinists Read: Best-Selling Machining Books of 2020
From Practical Machinist:
If you are a frequent reader of Practical Machinist’s blog or follow us on social media, you know that we have a passion for machining books. That’s because reference guides and textbooks are one of the easiest and most effective ways to broaden your knowledge on a specific topic, second only to real world experience.
There’s certainly no lack of handbooks and guides focused on machining applications. No matter what problem you’re trying to solve or technique you’re trying to learn, you will almost certainly find a book about it.
Throughout this year, we provided several book recommendations covering pretty much every machining area from basic machine tool knowledge to metallurgy fundamentals. In this post, we wanted to provide you with a list of the best-selling machining books of 2020.
All the books in this list are a must-have, so we strongly encourage you to add them to your machine shop library, if you don’t have them already. Books are also a great gift for a fellow machinist...[more]
RAB-Microfluidics founded by Rotimi Alabi develops a Microfluidics based Laboratory-on-a-Chip
RAB-Microfluidics, a Scottish R&D firm was built out of the University of Aberdeen. It was chosen for the TechX Pioneers accelerator programme run by OGTC in Aberdeen in 2018. Now, it has hit the headlines as the company has bagged fresh investment...[more]
Biology as Inspiration for Design and Engineering – @foresightinst
From the Foresight Institute:
Meet Deborah Opandoh – Product Design Engineer in the Cassava Processing Space
Deborah Opandoh is the Founder of the QueenTech Initiative,GhanaWeb reports:
...Deborah Opandoh's love for food, mathematics, and physics led her to pursue a degree in Agricultural Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2007.That flair has its roots two steps backwards when she would come top in a WAEC-organised Mathematics competition for all Junior High Schools in the Western Region. After serving as a teaching and research assistant upon completion of her bachelor’s degree, Deborah Opandoh decided to taste a master’s degree in Food and Post-harvest engineering at the same University. Towards the end of the first year of the programme, she got the privilege to work with the Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship (ADE) group, where they went to rural areas to see how women processed food. “We realised that most women who processed gari grated by hand, and this was dangerous, inefficient, very laborious and time-wasting. “They also pressed with rocks which was very dangerous especially to their health as most had issues with their waist and some would need men to carry and turn over the sacs,” she said. Deborah began working on the grating surfaces of the cassava grater for her Master’s...[more]
Building pipelines | From the labs: India-made world-class supercapacitor
From Businessline
Scientists in Hyderabad have developed a supercapacitor, a device that stores electrical charge. The charge that a capacitor can hold — capacitance — depends upon the surface area of electrodes...[more]
A solar-powered neonatal incubator from Stephen Mouafo Foguieng #Cameroon
From Afrik21:
In Cameroon, recurrent power cuts have a negative impact on several sectors of activity, including the health sector. To change things, Stephen Mouafo Foguieng decided, at his level, to give each premature new born the chance to live, through an incubator powered by solar energy. The third prototype of his invention will be put on the market in 2021...[more]
Zeetin Innovators Academy, Abuja | A partnership with Coscharis @Coscharis_Group
Zeetin Innovative Solutions, Precision Engineering is the:
"Host of the ZEETIN INNOVATORS ACADEMY in partnership with COSCHARIS GROUP/SOLIDWORKSZeetin is bringing technology and technological innovation to Nigerian Youth and by extension Africa through Zeetin Innovators Academy. At this Academy, Zeetin hopes to get the youths to sit down and channel their energies to creative and innovative ideas and designs in the area of innovations and reverse engineering.
Rujeko Masike, Zimbabwe designed a Portable Gold Crusher
A finalist for the 2015 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation
Zimbabwean engineer Rujeko Masike developed a portable crushing machine for use in the small and medium mining sector. Masike is chairperson of the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department at the Harare Institute of Technology and a lecturer in the same subject...[more]
via
Meet Nike Folayan – A Wireless Engineer
The Latest Crop of Science Innovators driving #Ghana forwards https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/01/16/ghana-science-epilepsy-inside-africa.cnn
From Inside Africa:
Bisi Ezerioha (Founder of Bisimoto Engineering) : The Fast and the Curious https://youtu.be/s4HBMmPUfJ8 @bisimoto
From NOVA's Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers:
Bisi Ezerioha takes things apart as a kid and puts them together as an adult so they'll go VROOM! Bisi Ezerioha is the CEO and chief engineer of his company Bisimoto Engineering. A chemical engineer by training, he was a pharmaceutical researcher for years before he decided to bring his mad engineering skills to the pursuit of creating ridiculously fast cars. His automotive creations have appeared in numerous films and video games. And oh yeah, he drives really fast... on the track.
From the Royal Academy of Engineering – 16 Innovators Transforming Africa https://www.raeng.org.uk/news/news-releases/2019/november/royal-academy-of-engineering-recognises-the-ambiti
From RAENG:
The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, today announced its 2020 shortlist, recognising ambitious African innovators developing scalable engineering solutions to local challenges.
This year’s shortlist includes the creators of a smart library on wheels, facial recognition software to prevent financial fraud, a low-cost digital microscope to speed up cervical cancer diagnosis, bamboo bicycles made from recycled parts, and two innovations made from invasive water hyacinth plants: an animal feed and a cooking fuel...[more]
A note to the startup world in Africa…Biology is Eating the World: A Manifesto – @a16z
From Andreessen Horowitz:
We are at the beginning of a new era, where biology has shifted from an empirical science to an engineering discipline. After a millennia of using man-made approaches for controlling or manipulating biology, we have finally begun using nature’s own machinery—through biological engineering—to design, scale, and transform biology...[more]
Tools for Multispecies Futures by Donna Haraway and Drew Endy
From Journal of Design & Science MIT:
What tools do we need to move towards a more equitable, sustainable future for all people, species, and ecosystems? What stories do we need to tell and hear? Donna Haraway is a Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is a leading theorist in Science and Technology Studies. From her influential essay, “A Cyborg Manifesto,” to her most recent book, Staying with the Trouble, she is a leading voice in discussions from posthumanism to multispecies justice. Drew Endy is a professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University and president of the BioBricks Foundation. Endy was one of the pioneers of synthetic biology, and co-founded the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM), which has been instrumental to the growth of the field. Outside of the lab, his work promotes open-source biotechnology and using synthetic biology to enable humans to live more harmoniously with our environment...[more]
Motoring Africa – Sustainable Automotive Industrialization for Africa: A book by @E_T_Hightower
From Edward T. Hightower: Global business leaders looking for profitable growth and cost-effective access to new markets will want to read Motoring Africa. Local African business leaders looking to innovate and create new opportunities will want to read Motoring Africa. Local African government leaders looking to encourage investment and create jobs will want to read Motoring Africa.
During China’s period of automotive industrialization, from 1990 – 2015, the country went from building 500,000 cars per year to over 25 million cars per year, a 50-times increase! China’s GDP increased by 27-times during this same time period. Motoring Africa proposes that advancing value-added manufacturing of complex products, like automobiles, in six selected African countries, is a financially viable way to serve these markets, while creating large numbers of opportunities for entrepreneurs, investors, and job seekers.
Industrialization creates the conditions for efficient and profitable local manufacturing. Sustainable industrialization creates these conditions while maximizing the positive impact on the community and minimizing the negative impact on the environment. Sustainably industrializing automobile production has a job creation multiplier effect, given the 30,000 complex parts that must each be designed, engineered, and manufactured, by individual supplier companies, in order to create an automobile. Skills developed for the auto sector can be applied to other, less complex, consumer and industrial products.
Motoring Africa is a forward-looking, action-oriented book written from my perspective as an industry veteran. Throughout my career as an engineering and business leader in the global automotive industry, I have helped automakers succeed in China, India, South Korea, Brazil, and Mexico. I have personally seen how automotive industrialization has helped transform the economies and living standards in these markets...[more]
‘Biomedical Engineering for Africa’ – A downloadable eBook
A new book:
Health technology innovation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including countries in Africa, falls far short of meeting the healthcare needs of these settings. The result is a heavy reliance on products and technologies imported from industrialised countries that are often not suited to, or sustainable for, LMICs.
Appropriate healthcare products for LMICs are best developed in these countries, where local knowledge and understanding of needs, context and available resources may be incorporated into designs and implementation plans. The objectives for enabling health technology development in LMICs include: 1) expanding the base of expertise through research training programmes with a problem-solving focus; 2) stimulating new knowledge, approaches and solutions by enabling innovation; and 3) integrating research communities within and across institutions to build critical mass.
The field of biomedical engineering is central to health technology innovation. This book is a response to the need for biomedical engineering capacity in Africa. It is grounded in the African context. It serves as a resource for academics and students in biomedical engineering, for those interested in entering the field in any capacity and for practitioners at every stage of product development. University leaders intent on establishing new biomedical engineering programmes or departments, may draw on the content for guidance on structuring their offerings. The book reaches beyond Africa, as it is relevant to other LMIC settings, and provides insights to guide global health initiatives focused on technology innovation...[more]
Joseph Kipkorir #Kenya – Stone Cutting Machine Maker
KTN News reports on the work of Joseph Kipkorir maker of stone cutting machines
Advice for opening a Maker Space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXsm3xMS9UU
Interested in starting a Maker Space. We have 6 years of experience in designing, commissioning and running Maker Spaces. This webinar goes into the detail of what a maker space is. Important considerations before starting. How to build a maker space community. What equipment to but. How to build a sustainable model.
Universities and their SpinOffs : Amaya Space #SouthAfrica – a nanosatellite manufacturing and space mission services company
Space in Africa reports on a spin-off from South African University:
Amaya Space is a nanosatellite manufacturing and space mission services company based in Cape Town, South Africa. Founded in 2018, the company is a spin-off from the satellite programme of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).
via
The NewSpace startup is led by Siyabonga Copiso, who is the outfit’s first CEO. Siyabonga is assisted by Dr Thandi Mgwebi (the Chairwoman). Mr Lee Annemalai, Prof Robert van Zyl and Mr Louw Barnardt are Directors of the Board.
In a recent conversation, Siyabonga Copiso and Prof Robert van Zyl discussed the Newspace company and the space programme at CPUT with Space in Africa.
The influence of university research on industrial innovation and entrepreneurship on a global scale cannot be overemphasised, especially in advanced technology fields such as space science and technology. One of the foremost examples includes the United Kingdom’s University of Surrey that led the global small satellite supplier market through its spinoff company, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited. Airbus Defence and Space later acquired Surrey Satellite Technology, marking a landmark deal for university communities around the world...[more]
A DIY approach to automating your lab
Nature reports:
Do-it-yourself projects give researchers the equipment they need at bargain prices. But making your own technology requires commitment and time, and it is rarely easy...[more]
Preserve fruits and vegetables with the ‘EvapoCooler’ from Flexi BioGas #Kenya
Multi-crop threshers manufacturer – SayeTech #Ghana
Over at Innovation Village:
SayeTech Multi-crop Thresher (Kumasi, Ghana) produces multi-crop threshers that help reduce grain waste. The company claims its multi-crop thresher can reduce post-harvest losses by up to 30%, while also increasing income of smallholder farmers by up to 50% every year.
Cook with the PowerStove #Nigeria powered by thermoelectric technology
From Tekedia:
More hereOkey Esse, a Nigerian, came up with an innovation to bring smart sustainable cooking to African households. His company Powerstove, is a revolutionary cooking stove technology which merges thermoelectric technology with the traditional African cooking experience.
#Myanmar ’s Entrepreneurs Show How to Build Hydro Power Without Outside Help – No international donors. No NGOs. No government support. They just got out there and did it – @engineer4change
Engineering for change reports
U Sai Htun Hla is an engineer and businessman. He breaks into a grin and sweeps his hand expansively as he welcomes us into his workshop – a large open-sided barn deep in the countryside, near the town of Pyin Oo Lwin in central Myanmar. Inside, idle machines and tools stand, waiting for his team to roar them into life to manufacture micro-hydropower turbines...[more]
Ikemba CNC Machines #madeinnigeria #nigeria made by chuks_harmonie
Technology Solutions from Oseke Embedded #Nigeria
A robotic car that senses objects in it's way 20m using Arduino and a breadboard with temperature sensor and gas sensors pic.twitter.com/ysjAAeDVX6— For the Culture [°•°] (@that_edo_boy) March 28, 2019
Oseke Embedded - is an embedded project development service for academic and industrial purposes.
In #Uganda – Stoves powered by lava rocks from Eco Stove founded by Rose Twine
Modern technology for "Juakali", the informal sector in #Kenya and elsewhere via Gearbox http://www.gearbox.co.ke/stories/2019/3/18/u7b2es3sfg48ucdadcf4plv5y8qewi?fbclid=IwAR3LZ6fujoA_62-0oMsS1Kn7fvO4G1p7ywEiKHC3VuQhqkmEOIWg3GQIzww
From Gearbox:
There is a booming informal sector in Kenya of small-scale traders, craftspeople, and entrepreneurs. A large percentage is known as “Juakali” (“in the hot sun”) because they work by the roadside, sometimes with shelter, sometimes not. Supremely adaptable, whatever you want made, copied, or created, the Kenyan informal business sector can provide it—and fast.
In a recent survey, the Juakali sector employs more than 14 million people translating to an 83.4 percent total jobs in the country and contributes 34.3 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).Making it one of the most intense sectors in the Kenyan economy.
As other countries move to adopt more advanced technologies to enhance their productivity, Kenyan artisans remain trapped in the Stone-Age applications, consequently hindering their growth and that of the economy. However ,Gearbox seeks to promote the creation of inclusive manufacturing opportunity for Kenyans by providing modern technology resources and training to curb this problem.
Gearbox’s approach is also decidedly future-facing, meaning that the technologies and methodologies it avails are consistent with the 4th industrial revolution. Gearbox also goes further to ensure that the assistance provided is end-to-end by partnering with others who complement their work. The African Innovation Ecosystems Group (AfricaIEG) is a business resource network that brings together various parties interested in proactively designing, developing and deploying new innovation ecosystems across Africa to create a pipeline of investment-ready, technology driven businesses...[more]
From the #DRC a Made in Congo Flight Simulator
From Kumatoo:
Made in Congo Flight Simulator by Congolese Dany Pepa and Ilithe Ongagnia, two professional pilots.
ByteHub Embedded Electronics #Nigeria http://www.bytehubembed.com/
Bytehub Embedded is an electronic product design and manufacturing company they are also the founder of Cloudx Education
Take a peek a the CloudX Hardware Makers Community in #Nigeria http://www.cloudx.ng
The CloudX Makers Community(CMC) is a platform built on a collection of emerging technologies which are used to modify and repurpose exisiting hardware to produce something new.
Tranos #Nigeria – A Manufacturing and Engineering Solutions company
Jude Abalaka the founder of Tranos in conversation:
How much of Tranos' raw materials are sourced locally?
It depends on what we produce. On the mechanical side, for products like enclosures, for example, the main raw material we use is sheet metal. We have a local factory for sheet metal on the outskirts of Lagos that we buy from. Generally, depending on what we produce, up to 90% of our products could be made from local raw materials. But, for example, only a handful of companies produce engines to a high enough standard so we have to import engines. If we take engines and alternators out of the equation as well as accessories such as hinges and locks, we aim to localize everything else...[more]
Africa’s 1st dedicated hardware fund? SA SME Fund commits $7.9 million to hardware tech incubator Savant
From VentureBurn:
The R1.4-billion SA SME Fund has committed R110-million to Cape Town based hardware tech incubator Savant, with 50% of this amount earmarked for black African owned firms, the fund’s CEO Ketso Gordhan revealed today.
The idea is that R100-million of the R110-million from SA SME Fund, will be committed towards the first close of a R100-million Savant venture fund that will invest in hardware tech businesses with products that are ready for market, Savant CEO Nick Allen told Ventureburn...[more]
Makers in #Somalia "I tell the young Somalis we can build factories and manufacturing companies with your hands" http://www.africanews.com/2019/02/07/somalia-innovators-inspired-by-war-on-terror/
Africa News highlights Abdullahi Mohamed Ali maker of tracked vehicles:
Millions of dollars are being spent to fight terrorism in Somalia. For years, Al shabaab has been terrorizing Somalis but the ultimate price to end this is paid by the hundreds of people dying. It is no wonder that young minds in the country are being inspired by this war.
via
One man in the capital, Mogadishu, is designing military style vehicles out of scrap metal.
The handy work is done at his workshop, where he is originally a mechanic. 27-year-old Abdullahi Mohamed Ali is helped by equally brilliant and talented youth who spend hours putting together pieces of what could be a game-changer in the war against terror...[more]