Global LEAP Awards Off-Grid Refrigerator Competition (Round 1) Follow-Up Report
This reports assesses the long-term impacts of the Global LEAP Awards Off-Grid Refrigeration Competition (Round 1), if and how the competition changed the market, and how the learning from Round 1 influenced the design of other Global LEAP Awards competitions.
Refrigeration improves health, income generation and reduces the burden that typically falls on women to shop for, gather and prepare food. In off-grid, rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, availability of off-grid refrigerators is poor and relies on the uptake of solar home systems. For the global market of off-grid refrigerators to develop, more energy efficient and cost-effective appliances are needed, but refrigerators are one of the most challenging off-grid appliances to design and develop.
The 2016-17 Global LEAP Awards Off-Grid Refrigerator Competition (Round 1) aimed to transform the global market for off-grid refrigerators by incentivising companies to nominate appliances to be tested in laboratory and field settings, and then to be benchmarked against one other.
This follow-up report builds on the findings of the evaluation conducted by the innovation foundation Nesta to assess what happened to the Winners and Finalists of Round 1 of the Competition. It also explores if and how the competition changed the market and how learnings from Round 1 influenced the design of Round 2 and the Global LEAP Awards Off-Grid Cold-Chain Challenge.