Clusters of Scientific Innovation in the Middle East and North Africa

Our MissiOn

COSIMENA (Clusters of Scientific Innovation in the Middle East and North Africa) provides clusters for regional exchange in various fields of science, technology and research, which aim to deepen the cooperation and partnership between Germany and countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Common global challenges like cli-mate change, population growth or water scarcity ask for innovative scientific ideas and solutions. Therefore, COSIMENA aims to foster scientific collaboration by bringing together experts from academic institutions, researchers and focal points of the industry and the go-vernment. Especially young scientists are promoted and supported through networking opportunities. Based on the positive outcomes of the Water Cluster invented in 2015, COSIMENA will set up new is-sue driven clusters focusing on relevant fields such as health, energy, urbanism and economy.

Our Activities

COSIMENA organizes interdisciplinary events on current issues in science and innovation like workshops, conferences, round-table dis-cussions, the German Science Day, the COSIMENA Science Night and summer schools. The focus of our activities lay primarily on the fields of water, health, urbanism, energy and economy. Furthermore, COSIMENA offers information and reference materials on German research and development as well as up-to-date research news from Germany and countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

upcOMing events 2017:

18 – 20 MAy

Partner of the International Water Technology Conference in Hurghada

17 July

German Science Day in Cairo

18 – 20 septeMber

Partner of the 1st International Conference Towards a Better Quality of Life in El Gouna

cOntAct:

cosimena@daadcairo.orgwww.daad.eg/en/about-us/cosimena

DAAD Cairo11, Saleh Ayoub StreetZamalek, Cairo, Egypt

tensified, leading to the establishment of a wide network of DAAD-Alumni and projects. In 2017 the Water Cluster became part of COSIMENA, the new DAAD regional ini-tiative on scientific innovation in the Middle East and North Africa. COSIMENA aims to set up new issue-driven clusters focusing on relevant fields such as health, energy, urbanism, and economy. The various activities shall also simplify and strengthen the access to Germany as an outstanding locati-on for research and build synergies between DAAD funded projects, alumni and partner institutions. By bringing together experts from academic institutions, researchers and represen-tatives of the industry and the government, the COSIMENA Water Cluster fosters scientific collaboration, focusing on one of the region’s most pressing social, political, economic and environmental issue: water.

WaterClusterClusters of Scientific Innovation in the Middle East and North Africa

Debates around the global water crisis have gained an un-precedented global momentum over the past years. Issues affecting the accessibility and quality of fresh water, such as climate change, skyrocketing population rates, and polluti-on, immensely increase the pressure on existing fresh water resources. It is not without reason that “Water and Sanitati-on” was adopted as one of the “Sustainable Development Goals: 17 Goals to Transform our World” announced by the UN in September 2015. Only one month later, the DAAD Cairo launched the Egyptian German Water Cluster consisting of 30 individual experts and various scientific part-ners. Following the Egyptian-German Year of Science and Technology 2007, the bilateral Egyptian-German research cooperation in the fields of protection, upgrading, quality management and efficient use of water resources have in-

From the Egyptian German Water Cluster towards COSIMENA

editOriAl

WOrkshOp

The Potential of Riverbank Filtration in Egypt

With Egypt’s freshwater consumption growing 10 times fas-ter than its freshwater production — a trend that shows no signs of abating — it is now more important than ever to con-serve water resources. Egypt relies on the Nile River for 95% of its freshwater needs, but river flow cannot keep pace with population growth. Underground aquifers are both difficult to extract and have insufficient replenishment. Desalination of seawater is slowly picking up in the country, but still re-presents a very negligible amount of freshwater production and comes with its own environmental issues. For over a century now, Germany and other Western European coun-tries have been using a technique called Riverbank Filtration (RBF) to produce large quantities of freshwater. The Egyptian German Water Cluster organized a workshop of Egyptian and German water experts and engineers on September 26th 2016 to assess the potential of RBF as a solution for Egypt. The workshop was organized in cooperation with the National Water Research Center and the Holding Compa-ny for Water and Wastewater. RBF is a low-tech, low-cost water treatment/pre-treatment technology which uses the river bed and banks to naturally rid surface water of patho-gens, suspended solids, toxic algae, and organic trace com-pounds. RBF produces 16% of Germany’s drinking water. The technology is quite simple, is cheaper than conventional water treatment systems and requires little maintenance. But identifying the right location for an RBF site is crucial. “The Holding Company is investing in this technology, because it offers a viable, chemical-free and cost-effective alternative to conventional treatment,” Dr. Kamal Ghodeif from the Hol-ding Company for Water & Wastewater indicated. But this technology also has its disadvantages; it can increase iron, manganese, arsenic and ammonia in the water while en-abling the formation of hydrogen sulfide. Manganese and iron concentration in the Nile water and their removal might very well be the biggest challenge facing large-scale imple-mentation of RBF technology in Egypt. But for areas where water quality is higher, a simple disinfection of the river bank

techtAlk WAter

Desalination

On November 11th, 2016, the Egyptian German Water Cluster, in partnership with Misr El-Kheir Foundation, invited leading experts in the field of desalination and fresh water production from Germany and Egypt to discuss the potential and the challenges of desalination in the Egyptian context. With Egypt’s geographical location between two seas and highly saline ground water, desalination is a promising appro-ach to the growing water scarcity both in drinking and irriga-tion water, as Dr. Hosam Shawky, director of the Egyptian Desalination Research Center of Excellence (EDRC) pointed out. Currently, most of Egypt’s desalination plants are loca-ted at the coasts, drawing on sea-water as a water resource. However, Dr. Shawky mentioned that despite being in the heart of the water desalination market worldwide, Egypt’s capacity of desalinated water does not exceed 0.6% of the total water resources. Achieving progress will depend largely on the technology used, as Dr. Wael Abdelmoez, professor at the University of Minia and General Manager of R&D TECH Company, knowing both the academic and the industries demands. Funded by the DAAD, the University of Fayoum and the University of Duisburg-Essen worked on a joint project to establish a water tech lab at the University of Fayoum to optimize, amongst others, surfaces for different applications, printed electronics, inks to fabricate devices like transistors, solar cells and antennas. Dr. Ahmed Khalil, professor at the University of Fayoum, said one of the most important directions the university has been working on is water treatment by engineering the surface and interface for membranes to be used for water desalination and purificati-on. Water desalination is a viable solution to overcome the global water shortage crisis and curb its emergence due to population growth and climate change. If research, internati-onal cooperation, and cross-sectoral approaches are further strengthened and supported – also in government programs and policy drafts – desalination could be one of the most sustainable solutions for the region’s water challenges, which are expected to intensify in the coming years.

filtered water may suffice to make it drinkable. Although the Nile Delta would not be a good candidate due to saltwater intrusion from the Mediterranean, Ghodeif believes that RBF could produce enough fresh drinking water in the more sui-table conditions of Upper Egypt to satisfy the needs of resi-dents there. Experts concluded that Riverbank Filtration could significantly boost Egypt’s drinking water supplies if located on sites offering optimal conditions. The operational costs are lower than conventional water treatment technologies and RBF can easily be integrated into an existing surface water treatment site.

expert WOrkshOp

Industrial Wastewater Management in Egypt: Challenges for Industry and Scientists

The Egyptian German Water Cluster in partnership with the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater (HCWW), called for an expert workshop on “Industrial Wastewater Management in Egypt” to give a clear outlook on current challenges and highlight the latest innovations. Best practice models and cutting edge research that Egyptian and Ger-man scientists engage in were presented, and their merits discussed during this one-day workshop. Egypt’s freshwa-ter levels have never been so scarce and tackling industrial wastewater management is crucial. Water share per capita has dropped by a whopping 60% in the last 40 years, and averages 663 cubic meters per person today. Although, this sharp decrease in water availability can be mostly blamed on skyrocketing demographics in the face of a constant Nile water allocation of 55.5 billion cubic meters per year, wa-ter pollution and industrial wastewater pollution specifically have significantly reduced the amount of water available for irrigation and human consumption. Second only to the sec-tor of agriculture, which is responsible for 80% of freshwater abstraction for irrigation, the industry resorts to Nile surface water for 54% of its freshwater needs, and uses desalination (27%) and groundwater (19%) as well. Every day, 5 million cubic meters of wastewater is discharged into Egypt’s sewa-

ge networks, where it mixes with domestic sewage indiscri-minately. This lack of segregation of industrial wastewater results in damaged pipes and sewage networks, canals and wastewater treatment plants, unable to cope with certain type of highly corrosive water pollutants, oil and grease ac-cumulation. The discussions that took place clearly illustrated the structural problems that hinder the establishment of a fun-ctioning Egyptian wastewater treatment management plan. As long as industries of entirely different natures are allowed to be clustered together, pre-treatment of wastewater will remain impossible, and the highly contaminated wastewa-ter discharged into sewage networks and treatment plants will damage infrastructure and public health. Contaminant limits should be adapted to each industry and an authority capable of shutting down factories which violate regulations is also needed.

Partners of the WaterCluster