SoFo (ScOre FOllow on Project)

SoFo will take the research done on the Score-Stove project and explore at least two business models for exploitation in each of Bangladesh, Tajikistan and the UK. The original call from EPSRC was specifically targeted at developing country applications. The Score proposal, as granted by EPSRC, was covenanted to ensure that any profits made in the developing countries remained in those countries. Commercialisation in these regions has to benefit the targeted societies. The Score thermo-acoustic technology has wider applications and we also intend to commercialise the technology within the UK by licence and grants for such uses as CHP (Combined Heat and Power) and bio-mass burning cooking stoves. The Score-Stove is a low-cost wood or dung burning stove that also generates electricity for use in individual households. It reduces wood consumption by up to 50% and virtually eliminates smoke inhalation that causes so many health concerns in developing countries where households cook on a 3 stone stove and have no access to electricity. SoFo will stimulate interest in developing country and UK manufacturers and investors. Through demonstrations it will obtain more accurate costs for stove manufacture and produce market research for each target area. The demonstrations will each be customised for local cooking habits, fuel and aesthetic requirements, so as to put the existing scientific rig into a more attractive business proposition. The potential rural world-wide market for the stove is from 15 million to 500 million units depending on the product cost and carbon credits or grants available. The UK replacement CHP boiler market is estimated at 250,000 units per year. This project will evaluate how much of these markets are available within the three targeted countries.

SoFo project: Impact summary
This Follow-on Fund project (called SoFo) concerns the commercialisation of the Score-Stove. This is a bio-mass burning stove that also generates electricity. It is currently designed for use in developing countries within individual households, typically in rural regions without grid electricity and has wider applications in CHP (Combined Heat and Power) in developed countries. There are four main categories of beneficiaries in this project: (1) the rural communities in Bangladesh and Tajikistan, potentially 170 million people will benefit from the new technology which will improve their standard of living and alleviate a multitude of health and socio-economic problems; (2) the UK will gain a new innovative low carbon product. (3) The Score partner Universities will generate license income from developed country applications. (4) the local universities will benefit from strengthening their links with rural communities, manufacturers as well as the research interactions within the Score community.
It is also worth pointing out that the SCORE project directly contributes to the Millennium Development Goals 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8 and indirectly to the others.
Communication and engagement
A wide variety of beneficiaries of this technology have already been engaged; They are Practical Action (PA) - a charity with offices in Bangladesh - and BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) and an NGO called Mujda in Tajikistan. The commercialisation plan is aimed at facilitating pre-production demonstrators to enable the organisations to promote the technology.
Similarly, within the UK, there is a significant demand for low cost generation of electricity in a sustainable or low carbon manner. CHP and cooking stoves of the Aga variety (attached with a thermo-generating device) are two examples. We will bring stakeholders in the UK applications to demonstrations at the University. The follow on fund (SoFo) project would enable further research to be undertaken among users in Bangladesh and Taj using professional participatory techniques to ascertain perceived benefits and their relative worth in more detail.
In addition to building on links with the beneficiaries already engaged, we will seek to engage with new beneficiaries within the Follow-on Fund project through a range of activities:
Demonstration days: Demonstrations to potential investors and businesses in Bangladesh, Tajikistan and the UK will attract commercial interest. We also aim to stimulate further funding for research into more efficient thermo-acoustic engines within the University of Nottingham, UK
Score Centres: PA will assess use in a village and BUET to technically assess different fuels, cooking pots and habits. The Tajikistan rig will evaluate the interface with businessmen in a former soviet block country who want to relieve poverty there and have identified energy as a key driver for this.
General promotion: a web-site, publicity materials and press releases will all be created during the Follow-on Fund project.
Collaboration
The work proposed in this application is almost entirely collaborative in nature. The key driver for SoFo is the identification and signing of Collaboration Agreement with three major partners able to take the technology to market. They are Practical Action (PA) - a charity with offices in Bangladesh - and BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) and an NGO called Mujda in Tajikistan. Practical Action Bangladesh envisions a world free of poverty and injustice in which technology is used to the benefit of all and its aims to help eradicate poverty in developing countries by developing and using technology, and by demonstrating results, sharing knowledge and influencing others. PA are co-ordinating the village activities as well as BUET and SZ Consultancy Services Limited.