Signing of contract for ICON project in South Africa

Press release /

On January 28th, 2019 in South Africa, Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, and Prof. Eugene Cloete, Vice Rector of Stellenbosch University, signed the contract for the implementation of an ICON project between the university and Fraunhofer. The participants are the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, and the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB.

President Prof. Reimund Neugebauer (left), Prof. Eugene Cloete (right).
© University Stellenbosch
President Prof. Reimund Neugebauer (left), Prof. Eugene Cloete (right).

In the joint ICON project WASTEC (water supply technologies for desalination and microbial control in food production for Africa), the partners will develop processes for the treatment and usage of water in order to establish solutions to the water supply problems in South Africa and the sub-Saharan countries. Dr. Markus Wolperdinger, Director of the IGB, Prof. Dr. Thomas Rauschenbach (spokesman of the Fraunhofer Water Systems Alliance SysWasser), and Dr. Ursula Schließmann (Managing Director of the SysWasser Alliance) were present at the signing of the contract in South Africa.

In terms of development policy, the project provides a contribution towards the implementation of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, which are also being pursued by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the framework of its Africa Strategy.

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