The best natural research laboratory in the Atlantic
The unique geographical and environmental conditions make the Canary Islands an excellent natural research laboratory for the development and testing of new technologies, which may subsequently be implemented at the continental level. Each of the islands offers one or more test sites for new technologies, such as the island of Fuerteventura for photovoltaics or the island of El Hierro as an example of a 100% energy self-sufficient island. The Canary Islands have been able to transfer successfully to their African neighbors their own expertise and technological developments, mainly in the renewable energy and water technology sectors, for providing basic services such as electrification and water supply services to isolated rural communities.
Unique biodiversity in Europe
The archipelago is one of the European regions with the richest biodiversity and the highest number of endemic species per area. Biodiversity is a starter for Biotechnology, a revolutionary eld with a bearing on various industrial sectors such as pharmacology, nutrition and energy, and with a great potential for the technological development of primary sectors such as fishing and agriculture.
The Canary Islands have excellent infrastructures and centers of excellence for R&D relating to marine sciences such as marine biodiversity and preservation of the coastline, marine biology, aquiculture and oceanography, which provide international cooperation at different technological levels. There are several cooperation projects with African institutions currently in progress, with the aim of contributing to sustainable exploitation of marine resources in African coastal áreas.
International Cooperation Projects
International cooperation projects have been successfully implemented for decades, particularly in West Africa and South America, through the development and transfer of adaptive technology in sectors such as energy, water, agriculture, fishing and public health.
- The Centre of Research Applied to Renewable Energies, Desalination and Cooling of the University of Nouakchott, Mauritania, with the support of the ITC
- The University Institute for Tropical Diseases, in the island of Tenerife, cofinanced by Senegal
- Advice to the Government of Cape Verde in the matter of water management from the energy and sustainability points of view
- Use of renewable energy to provide electricity to villages and isolated rural communities in West African countries
- Development and implementation of small autonomous desalination plants powered by renewable energies