TOR: Innovation Through Research Synthesis and Technology Transfer
Many organizations have worked for decades on stove design, however it has been an ongoing challenge to develop high-performing products that satisfy user preferences and that are available at an affordable price. This can be attributed to several factors:
- Lessons from research and development (R&D) groups have not been well disseminated to enterprises producing stoves, and R&D groups don’t always have user-centered design expertise.
- Design organizations who run workshops or work with stove enterprises are not building off the full R&D knowledge base, which limits what can be achieved in the design process, especially with a challenging engineering problem like burning solid fuels.
- Enterprises have expressed interest in improving their technologies, but have limited expertise and resources to devote to R&D.
The Alliance’s goal is to help our partners innovate to improve the performance of their technologies by bringing R&D groups, design organizations and enterprises together, with users at the center, to leverage their individual strengths and expertise. This Terms of Reference (TOR) is for a consultant or firm to integrate results from ongoing R&D projects, work one-on-one with three (3) enterprises to innovate on their product lines, and lead two (2) regional workshops where multiple entrepreneurs can benefit.
Submit proposals to Ranyee Chiang, Director of Standards, Technology and Fuels (rchiang@cleancookstoves.org) by April 13, 2015.