Enterprise

Project overview

Enterprise is one of the most varied VIPs we offer, as there are a number of different projects within this one VIP. In academic year 2020/21, we are running the following projects:

Water Desalination Project in Sundarbans Delta, India

In Sundarbans River delta regions of West Bengal, India, there is an acute drinking water scarcity owing to mismanagement of ground water coupled with the high salinity of water. A pilot intervention of solar-based water desalination technology is being undertaken to provide drinking water to a community in this region, led by a consortium involving technology partners and NGOs, funded by grants from government and corporate sources. Students taking part in this project will focus on developing a business plan for a micro-enterprise that will be developed after this technology intervention.

Blockchain technology for UN Sustainable Development Goals

New digital technologies like blockchain have played (and are still playing) an important role in sustainable development goals. This project is aimed at understanding such application in greater detail and understand the business case around it. It will require students to understand the scope for blockchains to monitor, assess, and manage SDGs, and make business/financial case for the same.

Smart voice analysis app for sustainable health monitoring

To support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the health focused aims of the UN’s agenda, “to reduce child mortality” and “to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases”, by providing access to low cost voice analysis tools and technologies, for non-invasive and sustainable health monitoring in remote rural areas of developing countries. Business students will focus on market analysis and business modelling.

Can Democracy Deliver?

In this VIP we will examine the linkages between the quality of democratic governance, citizenship, service delivery, business activity and quality of life in developing countries, with a focus in particular on Africa. Students will have the opportunity to investigate important policy-relevant questions using various forms of survey, administrative, national accounts, and spatial data to describe levels of well-being and investigate factors that facilitate or retard sustainable development. Business school students will specially focus on links with SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure).

Powering Rural Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Decentralised renewable energy solutions are being widely deployed in low resource settings across the world, addressing the SDG7 energy access challenge where grid electricity supply is not viable.  A key component of building sustainable business models around off-grid energy supply is stimulating the development of the local, primarily agriculture based, economies.  Working with the EEE Energy for Development team and international NGO partners, this project will investigate and develop Productive Use of Energy solutions and business models that support solar PV micorgrids and energy hubs currently being deployed in Malawi.

RoVER: Robotic Vehicles for Education and Research

RoVER will take the Covid-19 pandemic into account this academic year to create an autonomous shopping cart to be used in the Covid-19 pandemic scenarios. This will involve making an autonomous robot to be used in a supermarket or shopping mall, which would be of use to the disabled and elderly. Business students will focus on market analysis and business modelling for this product.

More opportunities

Enterprise VIP students also have the opportunity to work with our other VIPs, including Energy for Development, WASH, and the Prosthetic Hand Project, where students are brought in to create business models to aid the development of those projects.

Have more questions, or want to get involved?

Contact sreevas.sahasranamam@strath.ac.uk, or apply for this project.