NEWS

Part of Omatek’s visions for listing in the stock exchange, was to ensure that it gets increased supply of the materials it needed from the manufacturers, in order to continue its activities on a big scale. At a recent press conference in Lagos, Mrs Florence Seriki, Omatek Managing Director, said that this was not the first time her company was scoring first in the pursuit of attracting fame to the sector. She said "Our computer factories in Ghana and Nigeria, which are the first in Africa have presented us with enormous opportunities, making us the first in the continent to locally produce computer casings and speakers from Completely Knocked Down process (CKD), locally produced home entertainment speakers and plasma and flat screens from Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) process. "We are also the first in Africa to buy directly CKD process parts from front-line producers across the world, and the first in the continent to win Microsoft Systems Builder Award 2005 for Central, West and East Africa." According to her, assembling completely knocked down process parts from front-line computer software manufacturers across the world, has helped in promoting technology transfer, research and development and other technical know-how in the country, as well as it has helped to keeping experts updated about new technological developments in the ICT industry.

IJCIR, is a biannual publication by Makerere University a partner on the EuroAfriCa-ICT project. The journal publishes papers in computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, information systems, data communication and computer networks, ICT for sustainable development and other related areas in science and technology, business or commerce. For more information Please visit

The main objective of this conference is to bring together researchers and practitioners in scientific research to explore new technologies and innovations as well as share research and development opportunities within the region and beyond. Key themes that will be tackled at the conference include; Innovations and Appropriate Technology Transfer; Conservation, Sustainability and Biodiversity; Securing and Sustaining Energy and Water Resource Base; Engineering Materials; Design, Manufacture and Maintenance Engineering; ICT Research; Science & Technology for Development; Mathematics for Environment and Ecology; Aspects of Biotechnology and Microbial Properties in Public Health Problems. Registration is subject to a fee payment based on following criteria: Paper presenters: USD 150, Exhibitors: USD 250, Visitors: USD 150, Students: USD 50. With the exception of exhibitors, the participation fees will cover conference materials, proceedings, lunch, refreshments and cocktail. More information

In light of the tremendous interest of the European, African and Caribbean ICT communities (5 months prior to the event, more than 160 pre-registrations had been received although only 200 seats were available) and the growing interest and likely strong involvement of European, African and Caribbean institutions, the Summit Organisation Committee and the European Commission have officially rescheduled the 1st EuroAfriCa-ICT Cooperation Summit “Supporting Cooperation on ICT Research between Africa/Caribbean & Europe”. The new date and location will significantly increase the visibility and impact of the Summit as the event is likely to be held in EC premises that can accommodate more than 300 participants. The Summit organisers apologise for any inconvenience caused to all sponsoring organisations, registered participants and potential attendees and will keep you closely informed about the outputs of the ongoing discussions with the European and the African Union Commissions.

The conference will bring together the world’s most respected authorities in the above disciplines and is scheduled to take place on 3-6 August 2008 in Kampala, Uganda. Additional details regarding thematic presentations and speakers can be found here

Participation included key stakeholders from private sector, academia, research organisations, NGOs, European Technology Platforms (ETPs) and Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs). The one day meeting was moderated by Thierry Devars from the European Commission DG INFSO and Karine Valin from Orionis, with a special focus on “Science and Technology partnerships:The private sector’s capacity”. Khalil Rouhana from the European Commission started off the meeting with a presentation on the FP7. This was followed by keynote addresses presented by Daniel Annerose Manobi, a mobile and internet services operator in Senegal, Susie Hendrix of GSM Association based in United Kingdom and Paulo Nordeste from Portugal Telecom, ranging from innovations, research and development initiatives that have been carried out by European organisations with a focus on Africa. The ETPs NEM and ISI were introduced by Julian Sesena board member and vice-chairperson respectively. The first achievements of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) were highlighted under the FlossInclude project by Rishab Ghosh and Stéphane Boyera from the Digital World Forum and these generated fruitful feedback and dialogue on FP7. The IRMA project, presentation made by Guy Weets, underscored the need for African countries to integrate disaster risk reduction policies in their development and crisis management agendas. Andrew cherry from the Association of Commonwealth universities, a partner on the EuroAfriCa-ICT project, introduced the CAAST-net project that aims at increasing the quality and quantity of bi-regional (Europe and Africa) cooperation in science and technology. The meeting also gave the opportunity to participants to get detailed information on a call for proposals under the @CP-ICT programme of the African Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP) secretariat that was presented by John Fred Kakule. Participants were informed that it carried a budget of 20 million euros funded by the European development fund (EDF) It has been reminded that the FP7/ICT Work Programme focusing on main European research priorities is open to third countries participation and that African countries can share interest with regard to ICT research applications. This can been exemplified by ICT4health where new technologies are of interest to both European and African governments. A New area that was sited for intervention is the ageing society that should be able to live independently in its preferred environment with the support of ICTs. All in all the meeting yielded fruitful feedback in the area of future FP7 calls, collaborations with various organisations and initiatives in the area of ICT research. For more information regarding presentations and list of attendees, Please visit

Organised by the Meraka Institute of the CSIR, a EuroAfriCa-ICT project partner, the workshop focused on opportunities for accessing the European Union-funding within the 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7) for Research and Technological Development for ICT. The event was attended by some 75 delegates from South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Namibia, Mozambique, Kenya, Jamaica, Italy, Ghana and France representing academia, industry and government. Johan Eksteen, the National Contact Point for FP7/ICT introduced to delegates the FP7 and ICT whose work programme contains a roadmap for calls for research proposals. He stressed that “The quality of proposal preparation and timing are important factors in this extremely competitive process.” Presentations on research capacity and challenges in sub-Saharan Africa as well as an outline of successes achieved were made. “It is heartening that the number of proposals submitted from sub-Saharan Africa continues to grow as more countries become familiar with FP7 requirements,” commented Karine Valin, Managing Director of Orionis and EuroAfrica-ICT Project Coordinator. The two day event covered key note presentations, thematic group discussions ranging on topics such as e-Health, ICT for development, e-Governance, ICT infrastructure, e-Agriculture, ICT for education and Policy & Regulation and laboratory visits to the Meraka Institute (Digital Doorway project, Singazenzela project). All research projects are aimed at interventions to improve the quality of life of South Africans by including them in the information society. The next EuroAfriCa-ICT FP7 Awareness Workshop is to be organised in Kampala, Uganda, on 20 & 21 October 2008. More information

Concertation meetings are one of the key activities developed by the EuroAfriCa-ICT project to boost Science and technology cooperation between Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Europe in the ICT field. All interested persons should register online at no cost by June 15 2008.(Online Registration).

The event attracted a high participation of key delegates who represented all sectors of the ICT industry like communications, networking, Internet, mobile, e-Commerce, satellite, broadband, voice and video. The four day event was highlighted by an exhibition from manufacturers, service providers, academia among others with a focus on innovation, latest technologies and new infrastructure solutions being used across the African region. At the exhibition, the “ITU Global View”, an interactive map-based tracking tool developed in coordination with Microsoft and IDV solutions was launched. The software integrates existing ITU data sources allowing users to check the status, identify gaps and avoid overlaps in collaborative ICT-for-development programmes around the world. ITU Global View is designed to help implement the connectivity goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). A highly engaging forum with sessions covering public-private partnerships, entrepreneurial success stories, capacity building and cyber security with over 150 speakers participating, as well as a youth forum and telecom development symposium were among the events. The aim was to explore and exchange views from different perspectives on opportunities and means to overcome any existing regulatory and infrastructural obstacles in the way of rolling-out broadband services in all parts of Africa. One of the key achievements from this summit was, the African Union and Microsoft signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that seeks to catalyse the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa. The major components of the MoU included ICT capacity building and enhancing technology access specially targeted towards the youth and rural populations. This partnership will build upon work already in place including support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) e-schools and e-parliament programs, existing Microsoft Innovation Centres, and a network of over 1,000 Community Technology Centres. The summit attracted 191 exhibitors from 37 countries and more than 6000 participants.

2008 promises to be a special year dedicated to a celebration of 10 years of African Excellence. This Year’s nominations for people who have done outstanding work in ICTs are now open. Africans across the continent are thus invited to nominate those individuals and organisations whom they believe are worthy of recognition for their achievements through the use of ICT. All nominations are accepted as long as they are complete and are nominated in the correct categories (14 categories have been defined). Since its inception in 1998, the African ICT Achievers Programme has built a strong foundation of recognition and reward for those ICT individuals and organisations who have made a difference to the ICT industry in Africa. The closing date for submission of nominations is 13 June 2008. Nominations can be made through the online form.

The European Commission recently took the decision to finance the @CP-ICT Programme with a 20 million euros allocation from the European Development Fund (EDF). The Call for proposals is a major component of the programme that will be managed by the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states (ACP). The overall objective of this call is to help ACP governments and institutions to design, implement, monitor and evaluate their ICT national, regional and continental policies towards sustainable development, by providing high-quality, globally-benchmarked but locally-relevant policy advice, training and related capacity. Non-profit institutions from member states countries of the European Union and from the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of states (ACP group), as well as international organisations are eligible to apply. Deadline for submission of proposals is 16 September 2008. More information (EN l FR).

The faculty has attained a reputable status on the African continent with its achievements attained because of its commitment to delivering excellent services in the area of ICT education. With competent, qualified and motivated staff, high enrolment rates of students, the support from partners in the North and the growing number of collaborations with leading Universities and organizations in the world has led it to be recognised as the fastest growing computing faculty on the continent. It is believed that by the end of 2008, Uganda will have the highest ICT human capital index in Africa. CIT is also involved in a wide range of projects, partnerships and collaborations with the public and private sector (at both national and international levels). These projects include training and capacity building, scientific research, community outreach, and policy advice on a wide range of computing and ICT issues. As Uganda moves towards ICT-led socio-economic development, CIT has committed to contributing to the realization of this approach to development. For More information please visit CIT website.

The IST-Africa initiative which is supported by the European Commission held its third conference in an Annual Conference Series bringing together delegates from commercial, government & research organisations from across Africa and Europe, to bridge the Digital Divide by sharing knowledge, experience, lessons learnt and good practice. IST-Africa 2008 focused on applied ICT research topics addressing major societal and economic challenges. The programme combined strategic keynote presentations, technical and policy papers, case studies, workshops as well as an exhibition showcasing research results and applications through technology demonstrations, funded commercially or at national, regional or European level. The EuroAfriCa-ICT project was presented within a specific workshop session held on 9 May addressing 'Challenges and opportunities for African-European ICT partnerships in FP7'. Presentations on EuroAfriCa-ICT project raised various questions from European and African attendees on the scope of the project, the 1st EuroAfriCa-ICT project to be held on 27 & 28 November (Lyon, France) as well as on the opportunities to take part in the EuroAfriCa-ICT activities.

Funded under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), the first ICT Summit between Europe and Africa aims to expand the dialogue between the European and African ICT research communities and the authorities of both regions. To achieve this, the two-day summit will include: - high-level presentations from relevant European and African political authorities; - research and development awareness-raising sessions; - round-table discussions; and - opportunities for networking and identifying new partners. In particular, opportunities for collaborative research in ICT under Call 4 within FP7, which will be announced in November 2008, will be highlighted.Some 200 delegates are expected to attend, including ICT experts from Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, policy- and decision-makers, heads of stakeholder institutions and international organizations, and high-level representatives from the DG InfSo and other European Commission Directorates General. A Second EU-AfriCa ICT Summit will take place in sub-Saharan Africa in November 2009.The First EU-AfriCa ICT Summit is being organized under the EuroAfriCa-ICT project, funded by the EC's DG Information Society and media under FP7.

Organised by the Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) with the collaboration of the Lagos State Government, the event which attracted over 150 attendees was organised with the support of the Center for Information Technologies and Systems (CITS) at the University of Lagos and the National Center for Technology Management (NACETEM), Nigeria. The opening ceremony was marked by welcome speeches delivered by Ibi Ikpoki, Trade and Economics Officer of the Delegation of the European Commission to Nigeria, Prof. Mrs Modupe Ogunlesi, Deputy Vice Chancellor, on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), and the workshop was declared officially open by Dr Femi Hamzat, the Hon. Commissioner for Science and Technology, Lagos State, as Special Guest of Honour, representing Lagos State Governor and partner of the event. Dr Hamzat, in his speech, insisted on scientific research impact on daily life, on the importance of R&D in the ICT sector and in particular on challenges for Nigeria in these domains, and, finally on Lagos State Government commitments regarding ICTs. He welcomed the EuroAfrica-ICT initiative and expressed the hope that Nigeria will attract benefits from this initiative. In his address, Mr Ikpoki reaffirmed the commitment of the European Commission to open its funding programme to third countries including African countries. The representative of the Vice-Chancellor of the UNILAG thanked the START consortium for organizing the event in Nigeria and at the University of Lagos and indicated the willingness of the University to partner with EU initiatives. Following the opening ceremony, substantive discussions around R&D initiatives in the ICT field in Nigeria and West Africa and around partnership opportunities were held. Details information about the FP7 and EuroAfrica-ICT support activities in relation to the funding opportunity were also given to participants who welcomed FP7. The meeting provided an important opportunity to exchange about Nigerian R&D and ICT achievements, opportunities and constraints, to network and to meet key organisations active in this area, including NIGCOMSAT (company in charge of the Nigerian geostationary communication satellite), Lagos State University, Lagos State Polytechnic, Obafemi Awolowo University and the private companies Omatek, Leapsoft, Pinet, etc. A thematic group discussion held the second day helped in identifying more specifically R&D ICT themes of interest to Nigeria with indications of their links to FP7 challenges. The workshop also gave participants a unique occasion to visit Lagos State Government ICT Center (hosting in particular e-government facilities), the new equipped Lagos Digital Village and, the laboratory of the Department of Communication of the University of Lagos. Participants came from Lagos and other states of Nigeria, from all sectors and in particular from Universities, public institutions and private sector. This workshop was really successful and a real 'eye-opener' as indicated by most participants. Collaboration between the various partners went very well, as they were truly engaged and contributed in cohesion, through various manners, to the success of the event.

This conference-exhibition, organised by the European Commission's DG Information Society and Media, is the Europe's biggest research event devoted to Information and Communication Technologies. The previous one was held in November 2006 in Helsinki. The 2008 edition, entitled 'I's to the future - Invention, Innovation, Impact', will provide delegates from all over the world (researchers, innovators, engineers, policy and business decision-makers, etc.) with a key opportunity to access and exchange information, and network. Over 4000 participants are expected. Full details can be found on the event web site.

This meeting was organised in the framework of the EuroAfrica-ICT concertation mechanism launched in October 2006 (more information on meetings previously held: December 2006, March 2007 and September 2007). Attended by over 80 representatives of the European and African ICT communities, the meeting was introduced by Mr Peter Zangl (Deputy Director General, DG InfSo, European Commission) who introduced the recent EC developments related to the EU-Africa cooperation in the ICT field, including the EU-Africa strategy adopted at the Lisbon Summit. Mr Zangl reminded that a momentum does exist regarding the EU-Africa partnership but that a strong common commitment is still awaited. He stressed that the EuroAfrica-ICT initiative can usefully contribute to develop an active commitment from EU and African ICT communities. An important representation from various EC DG (DG InfSo, DG Dev, DG Research) was ensured at this meeting; Mr Jean-Francois Soupizet (Head of the International Relations Unit, DG InfSo) namely welcomed the audience. Keynote speeches were delivered by five African representatives: Santhi Kumaran (Head, Dept. of Computer Engineering & Information Technology, Kigali Institute of Science & Technology (KIST), Rwanda), Johan Eksteen (Manager, Technology Research Programme, The Meraka Institute of CSIR, South Africa), Tara Dasgupta (Professor, Caribbean Academy of Sciences (CAS), Jamaica), Beza Belayneh (Director of ICT4Dev, Development Policy Associates, Botswana) and Venansius Baryamureeba (Dean, Faculty of Computing & IT, Makerere University, Uganda) and two European representatives: Christine Leurquin (Vice-Chairman of the European Technology Platform ISI (Integral Satcom Initiative) and Serge Ferre (Vice-President, Nokia Europe). In the morning, EC representatives introduced the latest development related to EU-Africa cooperation after the Lisbon Summit within DG Dev (Ola Sohlstrom, Policy Officer), DG Research (Fadila Boughanemi, Policy Officer, ACP) and DG InfSo (Thierry Devars, Policy Officer, International Relations Unit). A specific session was also devoted to the FP7 ICT Work Programme and its ongoing revision and was led by Eric Badique (Policy Officer, Strategy for ICT research and development, DG InfSo, European Commission). The afternoon presentations mainly addressed Research and Education Networks as well as Grids in Africa and featured presentations from Mario Campolargo (Acting Director, Emerging Technologies and Infrastructures, DG INFSO, European Commission), Boubakar Barry (Coordinator, Research and Education Networking Unit, Association of African Universities, Ghana) and Robert Klapisch (President, Sharing the Knowledge Foundation, France). The one-day meeting closed with a presentation from Roger Torrenti (Project Advisor, EuroAfrica-ICT initiative) who briefly introduced the achievements reached by the EuroAfrica-ICT initiative to date, gave an overview of the project for the coming months. The next EuroAfrica-ICT concertation meeting will be organised in June 2008 (date to be announced) in Brussels.

The connection between the UbuntuNet Alliance's network hub in London and the GEANT2 network enables researchers and scholars in Sub-Saharan African universities and research institutions to share information and data and to collaborate through a 1 Gbp/s link with their peers in Europe and the rest of the world. The UbuntuNet Alliance was founded in 2005 by the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) of Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa with the aim of establishing a research and education network backbone for Sub-Saharan Africa. Membership of the Alliance now includes also the NRENs of Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, and is open to all recognised African NRENs. As well as creating links between national research networks it aims to join Africa to the global research community, with this connection to GEANT2 the first step towards this vision. The high capacity connection aims to bridge the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world, and enable faster collaboration on projects across the globe, irrespective of location. It builds on an existing link between South Africa and Europe, extending the benefits of collaboration to researchers and scholars across sub-Saharan Africa.

Funded by the Directorate General Information Society and Media (DG InfSo) of the European Commission (EC) in the framework of FP7, it will complement the START project that has been developed under the name of the EuroAfrica-ICT initiative since September 2006. The main project objective is to identify, promote and support strategic S&T cooperation opportunities on ICT between European and African organisations, and to support policy dialogues between Europe and Africa in this field. The project also aims at strengthening and developing existing initiatives, programmes and projects developed in the field of S&T cooperation between Europe and Africa in ICT, ensuring a wider promotion of cooperation opportunities in Europe, maintaining awareness raising on FP7 and the ICT theme in Africa, pursuing a specific focus on South Africa and initiating a specific action towards the Caribbean. The EuroAfriCa-ICT Consortium consists of Orionis (a division of Sigma Consultants, France) project coordinator; the Association of Commonwealth Universities - through its African unit (ACU), United Kingdom; the Academy of Sciences for the developing world (TWAS), Italy; the French speaking Universitary Agency - Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), Belgium for the European side and the Meraka Institute of CSIR, South Africa; the Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA), Senegal; the Makerere University, Uganda; the Kigali Institute of Science & Technology (KIST), Rwanda for the African side as well as a Caribbean partner, the Caribbean Academy of Sciences (CAS), Jamaica. For further information on the EuroAfrica-ICT project, please contact us.