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In the Streets and in the Lab, Two Revolutions Erupt in Egypt
Green Technology Featured Articles
July 08, 2013

In the Streets and in the Lab, Two Revolutions Erupt in Egypt

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

The spirit of revolution has come alive in Egypt—and not just political revolution, which is rightfully grabbing all of the headlines right now, but also technological revolution.

In that atmosphere, icecairo, a not-for-profit, community-powered green technology innovation hub, will celebrate the opening of its newly renovated space in downtown Cairo very soon, say its founders. The center is open for business, but its official launch had been postponed due to the political situation in the country.


The first three letters in the name “icecairo” stand for innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship. The organization’s downtown hub is a physical space where people can work independently or together, attend or run events, and use the fablab to create (or hack) “green” products. The group‘s online hub comprises a collection of platforms: a website, a wiki, a mapping system, an e-learning platform and an e-commerce site—all designed to maximize collaboration within the icecairo community.



An icecairo group constructing a solar panel (photo via icecairo's Facebook (News - Alert) (News - Alert) page).

Tobias Mathes, product designer and head of the Fabrication Laboratory of icecairo, told Daily News Egypt, “We work together to solve environmental and social challenges using the brilliance of the icecairo community, and to turn these challenges into green businesses.”

He explained icecairo’s goals of solving Egypt’s environmental issues: “Fablab’s rapid prototyping machinery creates and evolves these solutions into real world green products. These products can then be sold by sustainable businesses, powered by and employing young Egyptians,” Mathes said.

Icecairo was founded and funded by the German government agency GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation), a provider of international services for sustainable development. After establishing two branches in Addis Ababa (iceaddis) and in Germany (icebauhaus), GIZ created icecairo in 2012. In order to fulfill its objective to employ local youth, icecairo later formed an Egyptian team made up by Adam Molyneux Berry, cofounder; Muhammad Radwan, space manager; and Salma Adel, product designer.

Icecairo is designed to not only offer tools, but also the skills, resources and networks of its community to help news ideas emerge.  “[We] create new opportunities for economic, environmental and social benefit,” said Mathes, who leads workshops for laser-cutting and 3D printing, among others. Extra assistance for projects is provided on demand as long as the whole icecairo community can benefit from it.

“Anyone can come and suggest ideas,” Mathes stated, adding that users “can make use of the expertise within the community and begin using the co-working space to collaborate with others who may be interested in furthering their ideas.” He said that they can use the fabrication laboratory to make prototypes that they can then test to determine whether their product is ready for business.

icecairo has so far produced a solar water heater with locally affordable materials, and a biogas digester. Products expected in the near future are air-filtration masks, a vertical wind turbine and a mini-green-house.

“Together with our partners in civil society, the private sector, government and academia, icecairo believes it can turn almost any challenge in to a sustainable business opportunity,” Mathes said.




Edited by Alisen Downey


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