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PRESS RELEASE
March 2015
Smart Villages launches Energy Innovation Challenge for young entrepreneurs, scientists
and engineers in East Africa
The Smart Villages Energy Innovation Challenge, launching today, challenges young East African
entrepreneurs to form teams and come up with imaginative ways of distributing or implementing novel or
existing energy technologies for off-grid villages.
Each team should include one engineer or scientist. The teams with the best entries will win a spot in the
Cambridge Development Initiative (CDI) summer 2015 entrepreneurship training course based at the
University of Dar es Salaam and the opportunity to then pitch to win at least $3000 prize capital to help
implement their idea.
Attendees at the Cambridge Development Initiative (CDI) summer
2014 entrepreneurship training course.
In collaboration with the CDI, The Smart Villages Energy Innovation Challenge is being organised by the
global Smart Villages Initiative, which aims to provide advice to policy makers on the potential for off-grid
energy to deliver sustainable growth in the developing world. According to Project Co-Leaders Dr John
Holmes and Dr Bernie Jones, technological innovations for providing electricity services, lighting and
cooking have started to change attitudes towards off-grid energy in the developing world. “However,
despite decreasing costs and increased consumer demand for these technologies, their distribution and
implementation remain challenging. We have already held a series of workshops in Africa and Asian
confirming this and demonstrating that finding the right business model for an off-grid energy solution can
be tricky and sometimes comes after a lot of trial and error. To address this issue, we have therefore
decided to trial this first Energy Innovation Challenge in East Africa.”
Kristin Shine Polman, Director for International Competitions at Smart Villages commented: “Every great
innovation starts with an idea, but learning the skills to develop your idea into a successful business are
just as important as the idea itself. We are delighted to have been able to collaborate with the Cambridge
Development Initiative to run a competition focused on introducing students with a science and engineering
background to the skills necessary to turn a great idea into a successful real world innovation. We have
already had an enthusiastic response to the competition and are looking into running a similar one in India.”
Smart Villages Energy Innovation Challenge logo.
Full details on the competition can be found at http://e4sv.org/competitions and the closing date for entries
th
is 12pm 17 April (EAT).
Kristin continued, “this competition is a great opportunity for current and recent students to get the chance
to work with outstanding local and international organisations including Global Village Energy Partnership,
Practical Action, The Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) and E.ON Off-Grid
Solutions. By running this competition, Smart Villages hopes that students will be inspired and enabled to
make a difference in the village-level energy space.”’
The Smart Villages Energy Innovation Challenges opens today and prospective applicants are invited to
visit www.e4sv.org/competitions/enter/apply
[ENDS]
Contact Information
For press information and images, please contact Smart Villages:
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Richard Hayhurst, Communications Director
Kristin Shine Polman, Director for International Competitions
Meredith Thomas, Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: @e4SmartVillages
To access the Smart Villages image library please follow this link http://bit.ly/1GxCukE
Notes for Editors
Smart Villages
The Smart Villages Initiative is a three year project evaluating ways of providing off-grid energy as a
catalyst for development for rural villages and encouraging the transfer of knowledge and experience
between different developing regions. Through a series of international workshops and follow-up activities
in Africa, Asia and Latin America, our aim is to provide policy makers, donors, entrepreneurs and other
stakeholders with new insights into the challenges of supplying village-level energy and how they might be
overcome.
www.e4sv.org | [email protected] | @e4SmartVillages
CMEDT – Smart Villages Initiative,
c/o Trinity College,
Cambridge, UK,
CB2 1TQ
Funding is being provided by CMEDT and the Templeton World Charity Foundation.
Cambridge Development Initiative
The Cambridge Development Initiative (CDI) is a student-run NGO based at the University of Cambridge
committed to training entrepreneurs in the specific skills necessary to create thriving social businesses.
By working alongside local communities and building strategic partnerships at local, national and
international levels, they work to equip young African entrepreneurs with the skills to create positive
change in their communities and beyond.
www.cdi.soc.srcf.net | [email protected] | @CambDev