Innovation for development

Why is TNO active in Africa?

TNO’s engagement in Africa combines strategic resilience, economic opportunity, societal impact, and talent development:

• Geopolitics & resilience: Strengthening EU/NL security by reducing dependence on global powers, securing access to critical resources, and building sustainable supply chains with Africa;
• Business opportunities: Fast-growing markets offer innovation, partnerships, and learning opportunities, including solutions developed under resource constraints that can be applied in Europe;
• Social impact: Our innovations create local employment, boost entrepreneurship, create sustainable access to essential services which are affordable for all and improve the local innovation ecosystem;
• Employee motivation: Sharing expertise with people in low- and middle income countries provides purpose to our professionals, helping to attract, engage, and retain talent within TNO.

How - our approach

TNO acts as a leading innovator, investigator, and orchestrator in international collaborations. We provide expertise in technology, social innovation, business models, and transition management. We work with public and private partners in an equal and reciprocal manner. Our focus is on valorizing proven technologies with a high societal impact.

Our achievements so far

In recent years, we have achieved the following results where we are proud of (amongst others):

1. The WHO has adopted our growth curves and D-score as global standards in child healthcare – work in close collaboration with the Gates Foundation, Bernard van Leer Foundation and the EU;
2. In Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria, we are orchestrating the transition to sustainable proteins: 200 smallholder farmers are already farming edible insects (crickets), 200 loaves of bread enriched with healthy protein powder are sold daily. In collaboration with NGN Ltd and MIXA the first large-scale cricket farms are currently under construction in Kenya and Nigeria;
3. We have scientifically demonstrated that houses made from ‘Compressed Earth Blocks’ have sufficient strength, are more environmentally sustainable, and are cheaper to produce. Together with Habitat for Humanity and our partner Oskam Ltd, we are working on scaling this solution in Africa;
4. For Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, we have developed national roadmaps for waste management, combined with plans for the transition to a more circular economy, in collaboration with the UN, EU delegations, and local advisors;
5. In Kenya, we are developing a Sustainable Atmospheric Monitoring Services for Africa (SAMSA). Using our LOTOS-EUROS model, we are able to integrate data on climate change, air quality, and health, translate this into actionable insights, and make it available to businesses, research institutes, and governments.