Center for Technology Design and Development
Overview
This Project was established in 2002. The main activities of CTDD are development and application of innovative technology, research and technology transfer with the aim of uplifting social-economic development of Uganda in sustainable manner. The CTDD is the backbone link between the community, industry and CEDAT.
Although Uganda is endowed with abundant natural resources, poverty still persists, particularly in the rural areas. The Government of Uganda, over the past decade put in great effort to improve the standard of living of the rural communities. However, this effort has not been accompanied by a matching transfer of technology to the communities. The CTDD would like to develop capacity in technical, socio-economic, cultural and political aspects of technology transfer from other countries to Uganda, and also within different parts of Uganda.
Development is not possible without technological transformation of resources. Although Uganda is endowed with abundant natural resources, poverty still persists, particularly in the rural areas.
The Government of Uganda, over the past decade put in great effort to improve the standard of living of the rural communities. However, this effort has not been accompanied by a matching transfer of technology to the communities. CTDD would like to develop capacity in technical, socio-economic, cultural and political aspects of technology transfer from other countries to Uganda, and also within different parts of Uganda.
Our aim is to develop technologies and systems that have a direct, positive impact on people’s everyday lives. Along these lines, we promote technology transfer from researchers to society through pilot project implementation, training programmes and public awareness initiatives. This is done in order to bridge the missing link between researchers, the business community, funding agencies and the general public. Activities and Services
The activities that have been conducted, under the presidential initiative to date are;
- Design and construction of solar water heaters shown in the picture; These are cheaper and help in the use of the vastly available and free Solar energy for water heating other than the use of the hydro-power which is not enough for the population consumption and expensive to maintain.
- Commercialization of display units; In the earlier stages of the project, display units as shown in the pictures below were designed and constructed by the CTDD project team. Under the Presidential pledge, the commercialization of these display units and any other products that are developed is one of the major activities. The centre has developed a strategy to help commercialize advertisement display units. The units developed use low consuming power lights and thus pocket friendly maintenance costs.
- Design of a hybrid solar drier; It’s been noted and found out that most farmers and producers are losing most of their produce because of poor drying methods. The centre aims to develop a prototype to help in the drying of fruits, thus preserved for future use and export out of the country. This Hybrid has been designed by the center and it is called hybrid because in case the solar energy is not sufficient enough for a particular period, another means of Biomass usage can be applied.
- Improved Solar water heater; In the first design of the solar water heater, the average temperatures of 450C were attained. With the same prototype, water would not hold to favorable warm temperatures (above 200C) in the night, a time when most users were interested. There was also a need for provision of better water circulation pipes, better thermal tank insulation and a better solar glass trap. This was all tackled and improved in this new and improved solar water heater.
- Design and installation of a LED based lighting system: The overall effectiveness of reading is determined by the ability to provide reading aids including proper lighting systems. The project s provides a platform for the design and construction of a solar based lighting system for one such rural school to provide reading light for the pupils during their night preparatory sessions.
- Design and construction of a manually driven seed planting machine; Farmers look out for effective ways of planting, at times without land tillage and others in tilled land. This machine is meant to meet this need.
- Workshop for artisans, welders and other fabricators in order to get knowledge and acquire skills in product finishing. The target groups included fabricators from katwe and kisenyi areas.
