The SPIN network for knowledge-driven, sustainable, and clean cement and concrete technology in Africa - Practical experiences from international research

The SPIN network for knowledge-driven, sustainable, and clean cement and concrete technology in Africa

- Practical experiences from international research cooperation

between Europe and Africa

Wolfram SchmidtBAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing

Unter den Eichen 8712205 Berlin

SPIN at a Glance

2ACP S&T Joint Stakeholders Conference 26-28 October 2011

Funding Scheme: ACP-ST Science and Technology Programme

Total Budget: approx. 1,250,000.00 €

Funding: approx. 1,000,000.00 €

Project Partners:

- Democratic Republic of Congo: University of Lubumbashi

- Uganda: Department of Geological Survey and Mines

- Burundi: Université de Burundi

- Rwanda: Kigali Institute of Science and Technology

- Tanzania: University of Dar es Salaam

- Mozambique: Eduardo Mondlane University,

- South Africa: University of the Witwatersrand

- South Africa: Advanced Cement Training & Projects CC

- Netherlands: Eindhoven Technical University

- Croatia: Institut IGH d.d.

- Germany: BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing

“Spearhead Network for Innovative, Clean and Safe

Cement and Concrete Technologies”


Project Background and Activities

Project Background

Problems, Opportunities, and Challenges for Africa


• Lack of experts, engineers and qualified staff

Large technical problems in implementation

Large need for urbanization and

infrastructure

• Lack of laboratories, scientists and equipment

• Lack of standards and regulations

Challenging climate, geography and

geology

Availability of prospective raw

materials

Africa can not afford a 150 years learning process as Europe in the past.STATE OF THE ART technology is required.

• High performance• Versatile

• „Green technology“• Sustainable

• Affordable• Foster local economy

SPIN develops African STAR cement and concrete technology

Africa needs cement and concrete, but it has no concrete history!

SPIN Activities

SPIN Activities


• Technical committees

• Laboratory visits and practical trainings

• Guest lectures

• Plant and site visits

• 1-month work placements• TU/e, Eindhoven, Netherlands• IGH, Zagreb, Croatia• BAM, Berlin, Germany• Wits, Johannesburg, South Africa

• SPIN Website + Internal Platform

www.spin.bam.de

SPIN Activities

Dissemination activities


ACCTA 2013Advances in

Cement and Concrete Technology

in Africa

www.spin.bam.de/en/accta_2013

• Public workshops

• Berlin, August 17th, 2011Proceedings (ISBN 978-3-9814281-4-8)of the 1st workshop can be received for free via www.spin.bam.de

• Next workshops• Dar es Salaam, 2012• Johannesburg, 2012

• Final international conference ACCTA 2013• January 28-30, 2013• Emperor‘s Palace Hotel, Johannesburg

http://www.spin.bam.de/


Synergy: Several options to cross-link activities, financed outside SPIN by DAADTrigger: Berlin SPIN workshop announcement

Synergy: Main author from Wits, Co-Author and reviewer from BAMAs conference is in Germany Co-author from BAM will present

• Joint conference papers• 13th International Congress on the Chemistry of Cement, 2011, Madrid, Spain• 2nd Environmental Cement Africa Conference, 2011, Nairobi, Kenya• 12th Biennial Conference of the Institution of Engineers, Gabarone, Botswana, 2011• 6th Africa MRS Conference, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, 2011• 3rd Intl. Conf. on Concrete Repair, Rehabilitation and Retrofitting, Cape Town, ZA, 2012

• HiPerMat, Kassel, Germany

• DAAD German-African Summit (ACP-ST + EDULINK), Nairobi, Kenya, 2011

Synergies: 2 papers sent to increase the number of authors and co-authorsCombination with SPIN meeting in ZA

• Joint conference papers

• Joint journal articles

• Concrete Plant International, 2011

• The Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society

• Global Cement

Trigger: ICCC Conference presentation, Madrid

Trigger: Berlin Workshop announcement

SPIN Activities

Dissemination activities


The role of dissemination activities cannot be overemphasised!

SPIN Activities

Generation of Networks

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Schools and Universities

SMEs and large companies

Funding Bodies

Research NetworksAssociations

Local Authorities and Ministries

ACP S&T Joint Stakeholders Conference 26-28 October 2011


Spin-Off Activities

SPIN-Off Activities

Generation of new funded projects

10

Project objectives:-Development of lightweight panels for

housing with local materials

Partners: - EiABC / Addis Ababa University- Kigali Institute of Science and Technology- Wits University, Johannesburg- German-African Business Association- Convena AG

LightSHIP – Lightweight Construction; Scientific Cooperation for Housing with Innovative Panel Technology


Funding:German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Funding scheme allows 2 project types:Project initiation activities ≈ 20 to 40 k€ projects, mainly travellingLarge scale projects up to 200 k€

Initiation projects allow physical meeting of the partners with the aim to generate

„robust“ large scale projects

SPIN-Off Activities

Generation of cooperation activities


• Shared supervision of PhD student at University of Dar es Salaam• Funding by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service)• Cooperation between UDSM and BAM• Equipment of BAM will be made available• Shared supervision and consulting


Experiences from Cooperation

Target values

EvaluationConsul-tancy

TrainingDisse-

minationCoordi-nation

Accounting

Strategies

Tra

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BAM

WITS

USDM

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UNILU

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UNILU

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Consultancy,

Education,

Training, Future strategies,

Joint projects, Research

cooperation


Critical mistakes in the project history and solution


Problem source

Partner at Wits acted as a private person without involvement of Wits administration

Problems

Partner at Wits claimed for total control and more money

Project proposal was written by one person each from BAM and Wits

This was not identifiably for the coordinator as documents were official

Reasons to stop the project

Cancellation of kick-off meetingClaim: Money to private account

First we tried to negotiate


Critical mistakes in the project history and solution


Step 1: Inform ACP

Negotiate with Wits University

Replace Wits by another institution from ZA

Reduce Wits involvement to approx. Zero, while in parallel increase share of another

partner

Slow processesLack of understanding

Lack of responsible person

Equivalent to new project application

No other partner capable and willing to quickly replace Wits

Step 2: Develop solution strategies

Step 3: Sort out matters + apply for cost-neutral project prolongation

Physical meeting prior to the application is most important!


Underestimation of the administrative workload and time effort

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• Most partner institutions are not experienced in international cooperation projects and need strong support

• Universities administrations are often complicated and lack responsible persons (e.g. contract with Wits more than 1.5 years)

• Partners expect too much from coordinator (e.g. people often ask us, how to sort out problems in their institutions)

• Lack of experiences with budgets and documentation


The coordinator needs sufficient manpower:(e.g. 1 full time technical secretary + 1 full time scientific chair)


Financial Matters

16

Not a single partner has the capacity to pre-finance efforts• Coordinator has to first transfer money before actions can take place• High financial risk for the coordinator• Delay of activities

In order to avoid delay, BAM covered expenses for all partners during the first meetings

Very complicated internal calculation

To avoid problems, the coordinator should organise everything

more manpower and funds to the coordinator



Project handling

17

• Reporting, accounting is time intensive(e.g. SPIN project has more than 220 single budget positions )

• 1st year report required amendments, final acceptance June 2011• Next payment rate was received in August 2011

High amounts of own funds have to be activated

• Feedback is time intensive and the direct contact cannot give a definite response• Partners expect direct answer• Coordinator is always in conflicts between project continuation and

contractual risk


The coordinator needs financial power to pre-finance activities and absorb possible financial risks


Some other practical aspects and problems

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• Language problems (SPIN communicates in English, French, and Swahili, reporting language is English)

• Difficult communication with some partners (e.g. in DRC sometimes internet or phone are off over long period of time)

• Time for sending documents might cause delayed reporting, etc.• Intercontinental money transfer takes long time

(at least 2-3 weeks, but also more than 1 month is possible)

• Visa application for some African countries are complicated

Be multilingual!Do not expect everything to run smoothly!

Don‘t be overambitious with objectives!



Newly gained experiences

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The focus of African professors is rather put on teaching than on research

Possibilities to do research are very limited• Limited access to international journals• Laboratories are not always fully equipped• Lack of support to do research

Hardly no existing multi-national research cooperation• No support or initiative by institutions• No funds made availableSub-Sahara-Africa is not competitive in international research!

The missing ability to conduct self-responsible research


Major deficit


Lessons learned to run a project smoothly

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The missing ability to conduct self-responsible research


Major deficit

Physical meeting prior to project

Manpower to the coordinator

Coordinator as general manager

Coordinator with high administrative and financial capacity

Moderate objectives


How can drawbacks be overcome?


Partner A

Partner B

Partner C Partner n

Coordinator

…

Funding

Alternative projects with higher responsibility of partnersProject objectives should focus more on research

Research objective, Product

Funding:Travelling, Meeting

AdministrationConsumables

Equipment


Conclusions

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Many practical problems can occur challenging but not unsolvable

Cooperation is enrichment for all parties Interesting discussions and diversification of

approachesUnderstanding of different cultures and

traditions New view on construction styles and

environments as well as their challengesNew ideas for future researchThe feedback from internal and external

partners is very positive and the enthusiasm is enormous


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Thank you very much for your kind attention

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to: Dubravka, Irina, Miruna, Ruth, Naomi, Birgit, Nsesheye, Mitch, Herbert, Akindahinde,

Antonio, Jean-Bosco, Paul, Ndala, Dionisio, Senthil, Balu, John, Jos, Andreas, Hans-Carsten, Gregor

Announcements:

SPIN Website: www.spin.bam.de

International conference ACCTA in Johannesburg, South Africa, in January 2013



Documents

The SPIN network for knowledge-driven, sustainable, and clean cement and concrete technology in Africa - Practical experiences from international research