News

We are excited to announce that World Refrigeration Day 2025 will take place on June 26, 2025. This annual global event highlights the essential contributions of refrigeration to society, from ensuring access to safe food and healthcare to enabling sustainable cooling technologies. In this context, all pilot countries of the SophiA project are encouraged to…

📍 Location: Makerere University, Uganda 📅 Dates: June 10-13, 2025   As a proud partner of the SophiA project, Makerere University will host the upcoming Train-the-Trainers. This event will offer participants practical and theoretical training on solar-powered cooling systems using natural refrigerants, as well as skills in maintaining filter-based water treatment systems and solar heat…

ANSOLE’s 14th Anniversary International Online Conference (A2IOC 2025) & 1st WAITRO SDG7 Working Group Online Conference (WAITRO-WG7-25)   Held on February 21-22, 2025, A2IOC 2025 and WAITRO-WG7-25 brought together global experts, researchers, and policymakers to discuss sustainable energy, innovation, and policy.  Co-hosted by North-West University, South Africa, and Multimedia University of Kenya, the event partnered…

From October 22 to 24, 2024, the SophiA consortium held its general assembly in M37 online. The project is steadily progressing and with just one year remaining, it is now entering its final phase.   Launched exactly three years ago, the project aims to make meaningful advancements in healthcare access and sustainability at four demo…

From June 24-28, 2024, the 2iE Institute organised a capacity-building session for local technicians and engineers in Kombissiri and Léo, Burkina Faso. The training provided participants with an in-depth understanding of sizing techniques for solar cooling systems based on natural refrigerants, as well as skills in servicing and maintaining filter-based water treatment systems and solar…

June 27, 2024 will remain a memorable date for the Léo community, marked by the inauguration of an innovative sustainable refrigeration and water treatment system at the Dr. Sedogo Medical and Surgical Clinic. This event was organised by the 2iE Institute, attended by numerous local dignitaries, including Téwindé Isaac SIA, the High Commissioner of the…

The inauguration ceremony for the SophiA containers will be held June 27, 2024 at Leo Hospital   Finally, after two and a half years of development, testing, installation, waiting for components, shipping, and customs, the first SophiA systems are installed at the Operieren Hospital in Afrika in Leo, Burkina Faso. Thanks to a dedicated and…

On 4 June, SophiA participated in a joint webinar alongside its sister projects REFFECT AFRICA, ENERGICA, SteamBioAfrica and SESA, all funded by Horizon Europe. Together, these projects are leading the European-African partnership to advance renewable and sustainable energy solutions across rural Africa. Michael Kauffeld, coordinator of the SophiA project, gave an overview of the project,…

Together with SophiA partners 2iE, Raach Solar and Simply Solar, SPF has prepared three inspiring days for the future SophiA trainers on solar technologies. Professors from the OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, study program in Renewable Energies and Environmental Engineering were also involved in this unique initiative aiming to empower future trainers…

The architect of the Léo Hospital, Francis Kéré, has won the prestigious 2024 Crystal Awardfrom the World Economic Forum.   This award celebrates the achievements of leading artists who are bridge-builders and role models for all leaders in society. It is an excellent way of recognising Mr Kéré’s exceptional contributions to architecture and his commitment…

December was a busy month for the SophiA project!   Sneha De, Duc Ngoc Dinh and Jan Hoinkis, from HKA, attended two events to present their paper: “Sustainable Off-Grid Technologies for Drinking and Deionised Water for Hospitals in Africa”. With a focus on SophiA’s water treatment process and its laboratory test results, the paper attracted considerable…

The SophiA project was at COP28 in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December 2023. The brochures and video presentations of the project, distributed and shown in the pavilion shared by the IIR and UNEP, were a great success and attracted many visitors. SophiA aroused great interest among the public! A workshop led by D.…

The first SophiA systems – the solar-powered cooling and clean water containers – are operational at Everflo in Cape Town, South Africa!   From 9th to 16th of November 2023, Andreas and Lukas from SPF were at Everflo to set up, parameterise and commission the PV solar and battery system. In addition, the SCADA control…

On October 12 and 13, 2023 IIR, 2iE and SPF partners represented the EU-funded SophiA4Africa project together at the 8th edition of the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) Sustainable Energy Forum ESEF 2023 in Praia (Cabo Verde). This year’s theme was “Strengthening sustainable energy in the ECOWAS region”. The event was…

The IIR International Congress of Refrigeration took place on August 21-25 in Paris. It was the perfect opportunity to present SophiA to the public! Various events were planned through the whole week.  The IIR team held a booth with some SophiA prospectuses. The booth’s success gave strong visibility to SophiA’s roll-up banner.  Oliver Schmid from…

The second edition of the International Sustainability Summer School is over! Forty students attended the summer school in Brașov, Romania, from July 24 to 28. It was organised jointly by two partners of the SophiA project, the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HKA) and the University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Switzerland (OST), and by…

From 24 to 26 June 2023, the World Refrigeration Day was held in Douala, Cameroon. This event was organised by the Association of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Professionals in Cameroon (APFCC) and the Union of African Associations of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Professionals (U-3ARC). This event, focusing on the theme “Refrigeration Speaks to Humanity,” emphasised…

SophiA at the ENRICH in Africa Center event On June 14th 2023, Kirsten Laaks, a Mechanical Engineer at Everflo was invited to the Inauguration ceremony of the ENRICH in Africa Center in Cape Town. She gave an opening speech about SophiA and Everflo, and she referred specifically to the Woman and Youth Led Initiatives. The…

SophiA at the Sustainable Places event SophiA participated in the Sustainable Places Conference from 14-16 June 2023. This year, the 11th edition of the Sustainable Places conference took place in Madrid, Spain, and online.   Sustainable Places is a large platform bringing together actors from research and innovation projects contribution towards building sustainably: from energy…

SophiA participation to board of coordinators meeting in Brussels On the 5th of June, the SophiA coordinators were invited to the Green Deal Board of Coordinators meeting organized by the Green Deal Support Office (GDSO) in Brussels. At the beginning, it was made clear to the coordinators of the 73 EU-funded projects how important your…

On 25-29 July 2022, the SophiA partners met at the International Summer School at the OST Rapperswil-Jona campus and it was all about sustainability! The event was held for the first time by the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HKA), the University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Switzerland (OST) in Rapperswil, and the Transylvanian University…