IST-Africa 2011 - IST-Africa 2011 conference and exhibition

Hosted by the Government of Botswana through the Department of Research, Science and Technology, Supported by the European Commission and African Union Commission and Technical Co-Sponsored by IEEE, IST-Africa 2011 will take place in Gaborone, 11 - 13 May 2011.

Part of the IST-Africa Initiative, which is supported by the European Commission under the ICT Theme of Framework Programme 7 (FP7), IST-Africa 2010 is the sixth in an Annual Conference Series which brings together senior representatives from leading commercial, government & research organisations across Africa and from Europe, to bridge the Digital Divide by sharing knowledge, experience, lessons learnt and good practice and discussing policy related issues.

Online Registration
All participants should complete Online payment registration prior to the event.

IST-Africa /ENoLL Living Labs Workshop, Tuesday 10 May
IST-Africa is organising a full day workshop on Living Labs in cooperation with the European Network of Living Labs (EnoLL) and Living Labs in Southern Africa (LLiSA) as a pre-conference day on Tuesday 10 May 2011.

This workshop will facilitate knowledge sharing in relation to experiences and lessons learnt from running Living Labs in African States and Europe and focus on identifying concrete steps regarding Africa-EU cooperation on Living Labs.

IST-Africa 2011 delegates are invited to pre-register for this meeting as part of Online payment registration prior to the event.

IST-Africa 2011 Programme
The Scientific Programme for IST-Africa 2011 is based on an open Call for Papers which closed in late November 2010. The Final Programme consists of two plenary sessions and 46 parallel sessions featuring over 150 presenters from government, commercial and research organisations in 36 countries (14 European countries, 18 African countries, 4 Others).

The 8th Africa-EU Partnership - Information Society Implementation Group Meeting takes place on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday (Track B).

Full day workshops incorporated into the Programme on Thursday 12 May include the African Research and Education Networking in African and Global Contexts (Track A) and first IFIP TC 9/TC 11 Southern African Cyber Security Awareness Workshop - SACSAW 2011 (Track C).

Confirmed plenary speakers to date include:

- Honourable Johnie K. Swartz, Minister of Infrastructure Science and Technology, Botswana
- Honourable Frank Ramsden, Minister of Transport and Communication, Botswana
- Mr Nkatla C. Morupisi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Infrastructure Science and Technology
- Mr Mabua L. Mabua, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport and Communication
- Dr Ahmed Hamdy, Deputy Director, HRST, African Union Commission
- Mr Zoran Stancic, Deputy DG, DG Information Society and Media, European Commission
- Prof Luis Magalhães, President, UMIC, Portugal, European Chair of the Africa-EU 8th Partnership
- Dr Hannes Toivanen, VTT, Finland, European Co-Chair Information Society, Africa-EU 8th Partnership
- Dr Tomaz Augusto Salomão, Executive Secretary, SADC (tbc)
- Mr Ilari Lindy, Senior ICT Policy Specialist (Innovation), Global Information & Communication Technologies, The World Bank Group
- Mr. Jose Vieira Couceiro, Chief Executive Officer, Mascom, Botswana
- Mr Pele Moleta, Chief Executive Officer
- Mr John Connell, Education Business Development Manager, CISCO
- Ms Michelle Makaroff, Co-chair, Europe Africa Business Forum ICT Working Group
- Mr Thierry Devars, DG Information Society and Media, European Commission
- Ms Fadila Boughanemi, International Relations, DG Research, European Commission
- Ms Ana Cristina Amoroso das Neves, Head International Affairs, Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education
- Dr. Budzanani Tacheba, Botswana Innovation Hub
- Prof George O. Anderson, University of Botswana
IST-Africa 2011 Exhibition
IST-Africa 2011 will also feature an Exhibition that provides the opportunity to showcase research results and applications through technology demonstrations, whether funded commercially or at national, regional or European level.

IST-Africa 2011 Focus
IST-Africa 2011 will focus on the Role of ICT for Africa's Development and specifically on Applied ICT research topics addressing major societal and economic challenges, which is part of the European Commission's Information Communications Technologies (ICT) Theme of FP7. The Conference Programme combines strategic keynote presentations, technical and policy papers, case studies, workshops, an exhibition and social activities.

IST-Africa directly supports the goals of the Africa-EU Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space, the African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST) and the Consolidated Plan of Action for the African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE).

In the context of focusing on the Role of ICT for Africa's Development, the Opening Plenary on Wednesday 11 May will feature a high level dialogue on Implementation of the Africa-EU Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space. The Closing Plenary on Friday 13 May will focus on Initiatives Supporting Development of Regional S&T.

Goals
The goals of the IST-Africa Conference Series are Community Building to facilitate EU-African research cooperation and successful exploitation of research results, to stimulate take-up of RTD results by industry, Small and Medium Sized Businesses and the public sector, to promote knowledge sharing between commercial organizations, government agencies and the research community, to exchange experiences about the current state of eAdoption at a sectoral, national or regional level, support International Cooperation and open up the European Research Area (ERA) to Africa.

The IST-Africa Conference will provide a collegiate setting for presentations and discussions of national and regional developments, issues of concern and good practice models. It will also provide an excellent networking environment for delegates to discuss problems, share knowledge, obtain feedback, and learn more about opportunities to participate in ICT Calls under Framework Programme 7 (FP7).