The three doctoral students came to Offenburg last September from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, to spend a semester working with the researchers at the Institute for Reliable Embedded Systems and Communication Electronics (ivESK) at Offenburg University. In the context of the project "Dipper: Distributed IoT Platforms for Safe Food Production," they wanted to learn more about safe Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technologies. The application of these technologies, facilitated by the Dipper project, is meant to make a significant contribution to safe food production in the future – in both Sub-Saharan Africa and the Black Forest region. Of particular interest is the highly reliable and sufficiently powerful connection of production-related sensors and controls to the blockchain to achieve integrated end-to-end security.

"Based on our experience from previous projects, we see the need and the possibility to provide IoT and blockchain solutions for the retrofitting of existing industrial systems," explains Professor Axel Sikora, Director of ivESK and also head of the Dipper project. "For me, Dipper establishes a basis for realizing the ‘African Dream,’" adds Senior Lecturer Dr. Eric Tutu Tchao from Kwame Nkrumah University, who accompanied the doctoral students during the first three months within a DFG-supported research stay. In two combined projects funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the two institutions receive a research budget of more than 750,000 euros in the course of four years. "What our doctoral students learn in Offenburg helps us to set up an AI laboratory at our university," adds Dr. Tutu Tchao. The three students themselves feel they have learned a lot in the past six months. "My knowledge of blockchain has increased tremendously," says Robert Antwi. Seth Kotey has learned more about analyzing and using the IoT. "It helps with decision making," he explains. Nana Kwadwo Akrasi-Mensah also emphasizes the great support they received from the ivESK team headed by Professor Sikora.

In addition to the scientific knowledge gained, the Ghanaians also highly valued their many personal experiences. "It was great to get to know different perspectives on many things," says Seth Kotey," besides, the Germans are so organized and always have an idea of what to do next." "The way of teaching is also very different," Robert Antwi noticed in the German-language course, for example, "and the internet connection is stable." Nana Kwadwo Akrasi-Mensah is especially enthusiastic about the possibility of taking leisurely walks along the Kinzig river or in public parks at any time. "The German food is not very spicy, though," he adds with a smile. In their free time, the three students have made a number of trips in the Ortenau region, but also to farther places like Frankfurt and Hamburg. "Once we got lost on our bikes because a street in Offenburg had the same name as one in Schutterwald," recalls Nana Kwadwo Akrasi-Mensah. What they missed, due to the COVID pandemic, was having more intensive contacts with other students and a livelier campus. But they will come back two more times during the project. "Hopefully there will be no coronavirus then," says Seth Kotey, who would like to continue studying German until then.

For now, they will return home to continue their doctoral work share their new insights with fellow students, with their university and with companies in and outside the food industry. "After all they can all benefit from the application of IoT and blockchain technologies," concludes Robert Antwi.