The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced to fund and promote research in partnership with the General Electrics to improve standards in the Indian solar industry.
This is one of the 49 projects selected by USAID’s US Global Development Lab, that would receive a total of $10 million to address critical areas of development.
Funded through the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program, the individual projects will address gaps in scientific knowledge ranging from disaster preparedness to maternal and child health to food security.
Ann Mei Chang, USAID’s Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the US Global Development Lab is of the opinion that collaboration is key for accelerating the impact of scientific research on development.
He further notified that through programmes like PEER, we help strengthen the global scientific research community by providing opportunities for the best scientific minds to collaborate on crucial development issues.
Among the new awards, the PEER programme will support research in Morocco on the integration of solar energy microgrid into ‘smart buildings’ in partnership with National Instruments.
It will aslo aid research in Peru on climate adaptation strategies with the goals of informing practical solutions to water sustainability and water quality research in Lebanon to determine how pollutants may affect refugee populations.
It has also selected research in partnership with the National Cancer Institution on how Health approaches can be used to reduce tobacco use in patients with tuberculosis and research in partnership with USAID/Southern Africa, and the Government of South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) to co-fund two research projects addressing water quality.
By Baishakhi Dutta
