1.3 Billion people live without access to electricity. We believe the Smart Villages concept is key to the sustainable development of off-grid communities.

Applications Invited:  Practitioners and researchers are invited to give presentations on their current work at the upcoming workshop on Energy and agriculture in Smart Villages in India. We encourage people from India and South Asia to apply.

About the workshop: The workshop will bring together experts from the domains of research, entrepreneurship, gender, ICT, business, finance, policymaking and non-profit work, to discuss linkages between energy, agriculture and climate change, particularly as they pertain to rural villages in India and South Asia more broadly.

Smart Villages and ICRISAT invite applications from those working on the above topics, including companies. Those selected will have the opportunity to give a presentation on their current work.

Poster presentation: Exhibits of current work of participants and companies through relevant posters will be possible at the workshop.

How to apply: Send an abstract of your proposed presentation as well as a 1-2 page curriculum vitae. A limited number of bursaries for travel and accommodation are available to identified presenters.

Send applications to: Professor Sir Brian Heap, brianheap1@gmail.com

Application deadline: 1 September 2016

For more information about Smart Villages, see http://e4sv.org/

Join us to explore exciting new frontiers in Smart Villages and collective address questions like:

• What are the energy requirements of smart off-grid farms (for water, irrigation, motive power, lighting); for village-level processing of agricultural produce (refrigeration, storage, grinding and milling, drying, food processing etc.); for ICT (for education, market intelligence, payment of benefits etc.)?
• How can women and girls be empowered by smart off-grid farms (tablet/PC-based farm education, market intelligence, labour saving devices)? How does ICT complement other modes of learning?
• What opportunities exist for the creation of enterprises that add-value to farm products? How can farmers capture more of the agricultural value chain and how could off-grid energy help kick-start these enterprises through education in frugal innovation, business techniques, marketing and banking?  What is the role of co-operatives and partnerships in the creation and sustainability of energy-dependent productive enterprises in off-grid farms?