© Mireille Isimbi: Scientist holding a basket with strawberries to test on quality and temperature
Gideon Mulungi
Refrigeration and cold-chains researcher
From 6th – 10th October 2025, the Festival of Cooling in Kigali, Rwanda, will be the go-to event for farmers, health professionals, students, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and the public, all coming together to explore one of the most powerful yet underrated forces that is silently shaping the future of cooling.
Each day has its own focus, with activities designed to be as relevant, interactive, and engaging as possible for all who attend. This is not a conference where you sit back and listen. This is the week where you roll up your sleeves, ask questions, voice perspectives and opinions, test ideas, meet changemakers, and experience cooling in ways you’ve never imagined!
Afternoons at the festival are open to all to join, with mornings set aside for those engaged in specific sectors to gather, focus, and interact.
Festival Schedule
Day 1 (6th October) – Farmers and agricultural supply chain operators
From harvest to market, farmers know that every minute counts in realising sales of perishable produce. So do the middlemen and food buyers in the supply chain, who use that ticking clock to push prices down. This day flips that business model on its head. Farmers will see how cooling can slow down nature’s clock, giving produce a longer life, opening new market opportunities and removing the pressure to sell fast at low prices. Expect live demonstrations of cold storage and cooled transport, practical tips for post-harvest handling, and real life stories from farmers already turning cooling into higher incomes and profits. The day also provides farmers with a chance to connect face-to-face with buyers, cooperatives, service providers, and financiers and have conversations that could change the return on their next harvest.
Day 2 (7th October) – Health sector
In a healthy health sector, cooling isn’t optional. It’s a must. On this day, we’ll pull back the curtain on the cooling systems, technologies, and management strategies that keep vaccines, blood, and medicines safe and effective. You’ll step inside solution-driven dialogues, unpack real case studies from Rwanda and beyond, and get hands-on with the latest in medical refrigeration technology. And because good solutions thrive on collaboration, there will be spaces to network, compare notes, and troubleshoot with suppliers, logisticians, and health managers.
Day 3 (8th October) – Schools and higher education institutions
This is the day for Rwanda’s next generation of cool thinkers, problem-solvers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Instead of lectures, students will join hands-on experiments, discuss cooling challenges, and join interactive tours of real cooling systems. Science and engineering concepts will be brought to life in ways that connect the classroom to real-world applications, all aimed at making learning memorable. Teachers, lecturers and higher education students will also have opportunities to meet researchers and industry specialists, sparking ideas for future projects, internships, and career pathways.
Day 4 (9th October) – Innovation, entrepreneurship, and creative hub
From startup founders to creative storytellers, this is the day for cool ideas that could change everything. Ideas need a platform to soar, and this is it. Innovators will showcase prototypes and market-ready solutions, compete in a startup pitch challenge, and receive feedback from potential investors and partners. Creative professionals will explore how visual media and storytelling can shift people’s understanding of cooling and its use. Informal spaces will offer networking mixers, sparking conversations that could turn into collaborations, deals, or the next big breakthrough.
Day 5 (10th October) – Policy roadmap and closing gala
The final day is about locking in change. Policymakers, investors, academia, industry, and development partners will take the week’s insights and turn them into a practical roadmap of interventions for scaling sustainable cooling and cold-chains across Rwanda, and beyond. The spotlight will be on solutions ready to go mainstream now. The evening closes with a gala, which is part celebration, part commitment ceremony, where partnerships are sealed, and the collective progress of the week is toasted. A fitting end to a landmark week for Africa.
Afternoons are open to everyone
Each afternoon, the festival opens its doors to the public, with no need to have registered in advance. Wander through exhibitions, get hands-on with cooling tech, take on the cycle to cool challenge, go live at the open mic competition, or try your hand at traditional ice cream making. Enjoy surprise activities, meet innovators face-to-face, and discover how cooling touches everything from the food on your plate to the medicines in your clinic.
The Festival of Cooling is not just a week of talks. It’s an experience. It’s where ideas are born, partnerships are forged, and the future of cooling takes shape. It’s the place to show that cooling is not just about technology and equipment, but about people, communities, hope, opportunity, and resilience. Whether you are 8 years old or 80, there is something for you here.
This October, don’t just hear about the future of cooling, be part of it at the CCN Festival of Cooling, at the ACES Rubirizi Campus, Kigali, Rwanda.