News
Green Growth article in Metroxpress
(January 20th 2017, in danish), with Lene Jesperson from Copenhagen
University.
15.11.2016
Five academic research posters were presented at the 2015
Copenhagen Microbiology Center Symposium and the 2016 International
ICFMH-Conference - FoodMicro.
Please click the links below to view and download the research
posters.
Occurence and microbial diversity of yeasts during
spontaneous fermentation of mawè, a cereal-based dough produced in
West Africa
Pernille Johansen, Marcel Houngbedji, Sègla Wilfrid Padonou,
D. Joseph Houngouigan, Lene Jespersen
Microbial interactions and quorum sensing
mechanisms of importance
for sustainable cereal-based food fermentation: the case of mawè
and mawè based foods
Marcel Houngbedji, Pernille Johansen, Sègla Wilfrid Padonou,
D.Joseph Houngouigan, Le ne Jespersen
Microbiological quality of "Kosam daanidam" an
indigenous fermented milk from Burkina-Faso
Romaric Geoffroy Bayili, Pernille Johansen, Hagretou Sawadogo,
Diawara Brehima, Lene Jespersen
Diversity of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria
occuring during spontaneous fermentation of mawè, a cereal dough
produced in West Africa
Marcel Houngbedji, Pernille Johansen, Sègla W.Padonou, Joseph
D. Hounghouigan, Lene Jespersen
Identification of the microbiota ivolved in the
production of Lait caillé, a spontaneously fermented milk product
from Burkina Faso
Romaric Geoffroy Bayili, Pernille Johansen, Hagretou Sawadogo,
Diawara Brehima, Georges Anicet Ouedraogo, Lene
Jespersen
24.10.2016
An important step from invention to innovation under the
Green Growth for Africa Project
By Stephen Nketia, Head of Commercialisation, CSIR-Food
Research Institute, Ghana
My journey from the CSIR-Food Research Institute in Ghana to the
Danish Technological Institute (DTI) was the outcome of the meeting
of the project "Preserving African Food Microorganism for Green
Growth" held in Accra in May 2016. This was aimed to enable
me to acquire practical knowledge in developing and supporting
the generation of business models for all the reengineered products
under the project, namely,Fura and Nunu from Ghana, Mawé from Benin
and Lait Caillé from Burkina Faso in order to ensure sustainable
commercialization of the products.
(from left to right) Moses Mengu, Ana Maria d'Auchamp, and
Stephen Nketia
On arrival in Denmark on 10 October 2016, I was met at
Copenhagen Airport by Ana Maria d'Auchamp and checked into the
DANIDA FELLOWSHIP CENTER (DFC) in Fredriksberg. At the Danish
Technological Institute (DTI), I was attached to the Centre for
Ideas and Innovation where Ana and most colleagues dealing with
business development are located. I also visited the DTI
International Centre where Moses Mengu introduced me to Institute
and the philosophy upon which the organisation was founded over 115
years ago. The Institute's focal point since the beginning has been
on "innovation" and how science and technological knowledge can be
translated into practical solutions to assist small and
medium-sized enterprises. This is a model worthy of emulation by
many of our Institutes in Africa. The most interesting subject of
my study so far, is learning to differentiate between "invention"
and "innovation", a subject that has intrigued me for many years.
Another lesson I have picked up from my discussions with colleagues
at the Centre for Ideas and Innovation is the importance of
understanding the use of business models in order to ensure the
success of our efforts to commercialise our developed products in
order to guarantee sustainability.
(from left to right) Stephen Nketia, Ana Maria d'Auchamp,
and Moses Mengu
After, my visit here, I hope to have gained sufficient knowledge
that I can share with other Green Growth partners from UDS (Ghana),
UAC (Benin) and DTA (Burkina Faso). I also hope that we can
together come up with ideas to support the commercialization effort
for all selected green growth project reengineered products.
I wish to thank Danida for funding this collaboration and also
to thank all project partners, especially, Professor, Lene
Jespersen, Moses Mengu, Dr. Amoa Awuah, Ana Maria d'Auchamp,
Pernille Johansen and Eva Thaulow at DFC who arranged my
travel.
16.04.2015
Consortium Meeting 19th -20th
March 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark
The second consortium meeting with all the partners was held in
Copenhagen. Representatives from all the project partners were
present and productive discussions were held about the progress of
the project and future plans for the four PhD projects initiated in
the project. The partner Chr. Hansen also held an exciting
presentation about their work. More news to be updated soon.
25.02.2015
Greengrowth project
coordinator makes a presentation on value-added processing food
Ghanaian traditional foods
The coordinator for DANIDA sponsored 'GreenGrowth' project at
the University for Development Studies (UDS), Ghana, Dr. James
Owusu-Kwarteng, has given a presentation at a one day thematic seminar on
value chain research which was held on 28th October 2014
at COSTECH, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) in
collaboration with the DANIDA Fellowship Centre organized the
seminar to bring together researchers, politicians, civil servants,
development practitioners and other relevant stakeholders to take
stock of "where we are" on value chain research, and to discuss
relevant issues concerning the research frontier, policy
interventions, and other burning issues related to the research
agenda. The meeting also included a focus on how to facilitate
networking and promote communication of research results to
stakeholders/policy makers and development practitioners.
Presenters and discussants were invited from Tanzania, Ghana,
Nepal, UK, Kenya and Denmark, representing a broad and
international selection of value chain researchers.
20.02.2015
Highlights of fieldwork in Accra, Ghana
Under the auspices of the GreenGrowth project ("Preserving
African Food Microorganisms for Green Growth") and with partial
sponsorship from the Otto Bruuns Fond (Denmark), Sofia Araujo
undertook a two-month field visit in Ghana during October and
November 2014. See more information here.
07.07.2014
News from Copenhagen University: Event - New
partnerships for cooperation 13th November
2014
The SCIENCE Development Working Group (in Danish SCIENCE Uland)
of the Faculty of Science at Copenhagen university is organizing an
event on 13th November 2014 in order to
facilitate new partnerships and cooperation between researchers at
SCIENCE and private companies in Denmark that have a common
interest in developing countries. The three topics identified are
food, water and agribusiness value chains. Join us! Download invitation (in Danish) here.
17.05.2014
Project kick-off meeting: 21st -
23rd May 2014, Accra, Ghana
The Kick-off meeting for the project will be held in Accra,
Ghana the 21-23rd May 2014. It will be the first time all project
partners and PhDs will be meeting to present each other's
organisations, work packages and plans for the project. More news
about the exciting event will be updated shortly.
30.01.2014
Chr. Hansen in new CSR project with University of
Copenhagen
As part of the collaboration between Chr. Hansen, the University
of Copenhagen (lead institution with Professor Lene Jespersen as
coordinator), the Danish Technological Institute and four African
universities and institutes, Chr. Hansen will host a new African
PhD student in the GreenGrowth project, which is supported by
Danida under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. For more
infomation on the participation of Chr. Hansen click here.