Regional initiatives to promote
biosciences innovation:
The Bio-Innovate Program overview
Seyoum Leta
Bio-innovate Regional Experts Workshop on Industrial
Effluents Management in East Africa
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 19-20 May 2014

The Bio-Innovate Program
A Regional Initiative to Promote biosciences
innovations in Eastern Africa

 Established in 2010 to catalyze and support multidisciplinary biosciences
and product oriented innovation activities in the eastern Africa
To strengthen biosciences innovations for stimulating adaptability of
small scale farming systems to climate change
Enhance crop, feed and biofuel productivity and provide farmers with
more agribusiness opportunities
Address environmental pollution and climate change threats by
creating and up-scaling innovative technologies with a view of creating
more productive and sustainable agro-process industries
Polling expertise through regional innovation network, enabling policy
analysis on cross cutting issues

WHY
• Need for innovation systems approach engaging new and existing
actors in and outside the region through a new innovation and
policy platform for boosting eastern Africa development
• Need for integrated approach in addressing development challenges
that require collective regional action to maximize synergies and impact;
• Agricultural productivity constraints, market opportunities,
environmental problems such as climate change are regional in nature
and require regional convergence and joint efforts;
• sharing of scarce R&D infrastructure and key competences to avoid
duplication and harness available resources
• Creating mechanism for bringing new knowledge and technologies to a
broad set of institutions and can thus serve as a dynamic and effective
means for developing regional public goods and new products

Vision
Vision
 To develop into a Program of excellence for
“BIORESOURCES INNOVATION FUND” and think-
tank for Science, Technology and Innovation that
contributes to sustainable and integrated
utilization of bio-resources for economic
development of Eastern Africa

Bio-Innovate is focusing on delivering new products
through bioscience innovation systems involving a broad
sector of actors, including scientists, the private sector,
NGOs and other practitioners
Burundi
Ethiopia
Kenya
Rwanda
Tanzania
Uganda

Proof of concept Product development Delivery systems
Universities, R4D
Institutions
Universities and R4D
institutions,
Private sector,
R4D systems
Private sector, policy makers, market
systems
Product, process,
services concept
Product incubation
• Field testing
• System/process
establishment
• Protocols, tools
Technological innovation
Testing /evaluation
Optimization /scale-up/
production
Marketing
Commercialization
Put to end users
Early feasibility
evaluation
• STI policies
• Germplasm exchange/
Genetic resource policies
• IP framework
Regulatory approvals
• Testing and technology development,
bio-pesticide registration,
• Product safety and quality
• Technology transfer and licensing
A
C
T
O
R
S
POLI
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and
Regu
latio
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Bio-Innovate Projects Product development along
the innovation pathway/value chains

Currently, the program comprises of 9 innovation
and policy consortia projects and 57 partnering
and collaborating institutions
Program is supported by the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency, 2010 – 2014
Complimentary funds from private sector

Collaborators and Partners

Business Not-as-Usual
• Emphasis on product development
and generation of new knowledge
• Partnership approach to deliver
innovations to the end users.
• Regional nature of the Program to
allow for:
– sharing available resources and
exchange of information and
technologies across the region
– complementarity and synergies and
avoid duplication
– wider impact of innovations
• Program is also addressing policy
issues
• RBM approach in Program and project
implementation to ensure that focus
is on results and outcomes. M&E
adopted to reflect RBM approach.

Project3.Bean
technologies
Project 2. Cassava, Potato
and Sweet Potato
Project 1. Sorghum and
Millet
Project 4. Bio-energy and
mushroom production
from agro-industrial wastes
Project 5. Waste treatment
and production of biogas and
bio-fertilizers
Project 6. Sorghum and
Millet value addition
Project 7. Bio-enhanced
seeds
Project 8. Industrial enzymes
application
Project 9. Bio-sciences
innovation policy
1. Crop Productivity and
Resilience to Climate
Change
2. Agro-industrial Waste and
Wastewater Treatment and
Value Addition
3. Innovation Incubation and
Promotion of Targeted value
chains
4. Bio-resources
Innovation Policy and
Sustainability Analysis
Bio-Innovate Thematic Focus

Agro-industrial Waste and wastewater Management and Value
Addition
• Management of wastewaters are becoming a serious challenge in the Eastern
Africa with a growing trend in industrial investment and increasing number of
agro-process industries
Only 10% of industry in the region treat generated waste to any degree
wastewater treatment and management in the region is greatly limited by lack
of efficient treatment technologies, critical trained human resources, and lack
of investment in wastewater management research
As industrial wastewaters are heavily loaded with polluting substances,
conventional wastewater treatment technologies do not remove substantial
amounts of pollutants contained in industrial wastewaters.
In addition to being expensive, these traditional methods often do not meet
national wastewater discharge standards to protect the human population at
risk, and prevent environmental degradation.
• Need for adaptable technologies to manage and add value to agro-industrial
waste and wastewater

Innovative wastewater treatment solutions
• The research team supported by the Bio-Innovate Program
has now come up with the innovative system for treating
wastewater through integration of technologies for producing
biogas and biofertlizers using anaerobic-aerobic bio-reactors,
and clean final effluent using constructed wetlands
• The development is the outcome of more than ten years of
research and innovation activities by a consortium of
researchers drawn from the University of Dar es Salam
(Tanzania), Makere University (Uganda) and Addis Ababa
University (Ethiopia)

• These activities were supported by SIDA through the Bio-EARN
Program in the research and product development phase (2006-
2009) followed by the Bio-Innovate Program in the innovation pilot
testing and demonstration stages ((2010-2014), in collaboration
with the private sector partners in the Eastern Africa
• The solution has been piloted in pilot scale at private industry
premises in the three Eastern African Countries (Ethiopia, Uganda,
and Tanzania) and is proven to work
• detailed techno-economic feasibility analysis and business
development conducted on these technologies have also shown
that these innovative solutions are technically feasible for large
scale roll-out in the region

Integrated Waste Management and Value Addition – Slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse waste
Anaerobic digester Aerobic digester
Biogas Artificial wetlands

Integrated Waste Management and Value Addition – Banana Wine Factory

Integrated Pilot system installed at Modjo Tannery

Future direction of Bio-Innovate
• Up-scaling and commercialization of promising
innovations from the current thematic area consortia
projects
• Widen the scope of the Bio-Innovate focus areas
with focus on delivery of innovations to end users
involving private sector partners
• Integrate technology delivery systems with studies
on cross cutting issues

Concluding remark
Innovation is Key for Knowledge-based economic
growth, improve livelihood and sustainable
development
Africa has a competitive advantage in Harnessing
Innovation for boosting the growth of Knowledge-
based Bio-Economy
“If all actors in the NIS can play their role meaningfully,
Africa will soon become part of the emerging economies”

Contact details: Bio-Innovate Program
www.bioinnovate-africa.org
Email: S.Leta@cgiar.org