Negawatt Challenge for Energy Efficiency

Project Summary:

Africa’s rapid urbanization is deteriorating air quality, while African economies are losing an estimated 2.1% of GDP to power shortages every year. Mayors worldwide (C40 cities) are supporting innovative solutions to achieve “Negawatts”, or negative energy consumption. Following the successful 2013 World Bank-supported “hackathon” to improve access to clean drinking water and toilets, KGGTF’s three-year USD $500,000 negawatt “hackathon” and “makeathon” initiatives engage stakeholders
in South Africa and Ghana to identify innovative interventions for key problems areas. The initiatives challenge local, national, and global problem-solvers to create and collaborate on targeted, implementable solutions that combine indigenous knowledge with international expertise. The program supports technology-enabled entrepreneurship, job creation, technology transfer, and energy efficient appliances and services. Going beyond related World Bank initiatives, the program is pioneering an open innovation model for private sector engagement and investment in energy technology development and adaptation.

List of Activities:

• Convening key stakeholders to identify and raise awareness of energy efficiency opportunities in their respective cities
• Engaging local ICT entrepreneurs and SMEs to develop technology and business solutions through an innovation challenge
• Offering hands-on training and skills building for local entrepreneurs and engineers to develop and market ICT solution
• Promoting a global dialogue focused on the application of ICT to enhance urban energy efficiency

Outcomes:

Output 1:

• Promote finalists’ continuous improvement through further training and financial support

Output 2:

• Develop a technical report with step-by-step instructions for implementation of the challenge competition methodology

Output 3:

• Leverage local entrepreneurial talent and expertise in host cities to surface innovative tools and technologies that address specific needs of the local communities that could be replicated and scaled up within a global community 

Output 4

• Cultivate dialogue between different sectors in order to continue to solve local urban challenges

Outcomes:

This project expects outcomes such as (a) increased client capacity regards to innovation challenge design and implementation, (b) establishment of replicable competition methodology, and (c) strengthened local entrepreneurs’ capacity to develop and market ICT solutions, with focus on women. Ultimately, the project envisages the use of open innovation challenge methodologies to source solutions that can contribute to the reduction of urban energy intensity and offer energy management tools and strategies in two cities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

The green growth and energy efficiency related solutions generated by the Negawatt Challenge were connected to Korean experts, with years of experience in implementing Green Growth solutions on municipal levels. The project received support in technology transfer and know-how from the Green Technology Center of Korea, National Information Society Agency of Korea, and internationally successful Korean private sector companies to emerging technology communities in Africa. In addition to the Korean counterparts, this project also leveraged partnerships with South Africa’s Ministries of Power and Energy, Private Sector Development, and the Investment Bureau and city authorities.