US-Africa Planning VIsit: Assessment of Opportunities and Capabilities for Manufacturing Research in Africa

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This international travel grant will explore opportunities for collaborative research on manufacturing between Africa and the U.S. Three U.S. engineers will visit countries in the North, South, East and West of Africa. During these visits, they will meet with local African researchers, industrial and technical leaders. They will also visit selected local universities and industries to assess the local capabilities for collaborative research and the future development of manufacturing enterprise systems. In an effort to distinguish between the manufacturing opportunities at different scales, the visiting engineers will assess the capabilities for manufacturing research related to small, medium and large-scale industries. The existing infrastructure for research will also be assessed along with the areas of strength for future collaborative research. A special effort will be made to identify areas of collaboration that could result in societal impact in the U.S. and in Africa. As such, these could include: manufacturing enterprise systems for the development of export-based manufacturing to the U.S.; the integration of research and education in ways that could impact the local training of a larger pool of African manufacturing expertise, and the development of indigenous manufacturing capabilities at different scales. Following the visits, the group will prepare a preliminary report of its findings and recommendations for future collaborations in manufacturing/manufacturing research. This will be presented to the NSF and the participants at the Africa MRS meeting in Dakar, Senegal. The inputs/feedback received from these two groups will then be incorporated into the final report and a technical paper that will be disseminated widely, and made available on the worldwide web.