Facility Manager of Afri-SET West, Dr. Allison Felix Hughes
For the first time since its inception, the globally recognised AIRLAB Microsensors Challenge is coming to Africa.
Through a strategic partnership with Afri-SET West (The Air Quality Sensor Evaluation and Training Facility for West Africa), the Department of Physics, University of Ghana in Accra, will serve as one of three outdoor evaluation sites in the 5th edition of the Challenge.
This is alongside Paris (France) and Bangalore (India)—bringing the continent into a global scientific spotlight. In previous editions, over 176 microsensor devices have been evaluated by expert juries, making the AIRLAB Microsensors Challenge one of the most respected programs of its kind globally.
This unique development means air quality sensor manufacturers now have the opportunity to test and validate their technologies in West Africa – a region that experiences high levels of air pollution in some of its big cities and is marked by the distinctive Harmattan period, which brings high volumes of dust and particulate matter during the dry season.
Air pollution, particularly from PM2.5 particles, remains the world’s greatest external risk to human health, surpassing smoking, alcohol use, traffic injuries, and HIV/AIDS.
The University of Chicago’s AQLI data shows that people in highly polluted areas live 2.7 years less than those in cleaner environments. In 2021, air pollution caused 8.1 million deaths globally or roughly 22,192 deaths daily. Alarmingly, one child dies every minute due to air pollution.
In Ghana, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said air pollution was responsible for more than 28,000 deaths in Ghana in 2019 alone — a figure that surpasses the combined national death toll from malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis.
But it gets worse. The Global State of Air Report, published in 2021, revised Ghana’s death toll upward to 30,000 lives lost per year.
Regarding this years’ Microsensors Challenge, the Facility Manager of Afri-SET West, Dr. Allison Felix Hughes states, “This year’s microsensor challenge is unique because we’re evaluating similar sensors across three continents—Africa, Europe, and Asia—to see how they perform in different climatic zones and with different sources of air pollution.”
Sensor manufacturers can now register until May 31, 2025, to be part of this prestigious competition, which not only provides global exposure but also a ranking of the best-performing sensors—a significant boost for any air quality sensor manufacturer.
What’s New in the 2025 Edition?
Organised by Airparif and its innovation arm AIRLAB, the Microsensor Challenge offers a rigorous, independent, real-world evaluation of air quality sensors used by researchers, cities, companies, and citizens to monitor the air quality in outdoor environments, homes, offices, streets, and even underground spaces.
Key changes in the 5th edition include:
- Three new outdoor evaluation sites: France (Paris), Ghana (Accra), and India (Bangalore).
- New confined-space evaluation site: An underground railway station in Paris, in partnership with Île-de-France Mobilités and SNCF Gares & Connexions.
- Updated Rules & Protocols: Including new performance metrics, streamlined utility criteria, and a focus on environmental footprint as a macro evaluation criterion.
- Colocation calibration allowed, with a one-month result validation period for transparency and fairness.
- Registration fees apply only to indoor evaluations, except for the underground station (IA-URS).
This 2025 edition will focus on key pollutants including particulate matter, nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone (O₃), and sulphur dioxide (SO₂).
For manufacturers, this is an unparalleled opportunity to test their sensors in West African environments that include complex air pollution sources and unique atmospheric conditions such as the Harmattan dust, providing rich data and critical performance benchmarks.
The 5th Edition of the AIRLAB Microsensors Challenge is now open for registration. Visit the project webpage for all the necessary information for your participation: https://airlab.solutions/actualites/challenge-microcapteurs-edition-2025-225.
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