05 June 2014
Hosted by the Government of Mauritius through the Ministry of Information Communication Technology and National Computer Board, Supported by the European Commission (EC) and African Union Commission (AUC), IST-Africa 2014 (06 – 09 May) was the ninth in an annual series of Ministerial Level Technology Research Conferences. IST-Africa 2014 was technically co-sponsored by IEEE Mauritius Subsection and IEEE UK & Ireland Social Implications of Technology Chapter.
The IST-Africa Initiative supports development of the Information Society and Knowledge Economy in Africa through International Innovation, Research and Policy Cooperation, Knowledge Sharing and Skills Transfer between IST-Africa Partners; supporting Collaborative Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Adoption of Living Labs and Implementation of Africa - EU Strategic Partnership (Information Society, ICT, Innovation).
The primary objectives of the IST-Africa 2014 Conference and Exhibition were to showcase National Innovation in the Host Country, propose and discuss potential solutions to Bridge the Digital Divide and share knowledge, experience, lessons learnt and good practices as well as discussing policy issues related to Information Society and ICT Research. IST-Africa 2014 featured over 168 presentations from government, industry and research organizations in 38 countries. Over 460 delegates from 44 countries (25 African Members States, 16 European Member States, India, Japan and United States) actively participated over the four days.
On Tuesday 06 May, the 4th Annual IST-Africa Living Labs Working Group Meeting provided an opportunity for a important opportunity for key Innovation Stakeholders to (a) learn more about the potential of leveraging Collaborative Innovation and Living Labs methodologies for socio-economic development and (b) contribute to establishing a network of experts and key stakeholders committed to supporting national and cross-border Collaborative Open Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa. This participatory meeting was well attended with knowledge sharing from Living Labs in a number of African States, stimulating dialogue and ideas emerging for future Living Labs.
On Wednesday 07 May, the Opening Plenary consisted of presentations from Mr Dan Faugoo, Executive Director, National Computer Board; Mr Morten Møller, Programme Coordinator, DG CONNECT, European Commission; Mr Jean Claude de l’Estrac, Secretary General of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC); Mr Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division, African Union and Hon. Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum, Minister of Information Communications Technology, Mauritius.
The High Level Round Table Discussion during the Opening Plenary provided the opportunity to hear a wide range of perspectives on issues related to Implementation of the Information Society in Africa and the Role of ICT Research and Innovation. This was a very rich and stimulating dialogue, which challenged all IST-Africa Community Members to actively engage with their peers from Africa and Europe to collaborate in leveraging the Information Society and ICT to achieve sustainable socio-economic development across the Continent of Africa. The panellists included Mr Suraj Ramgolam, Chairman, National Computer Board, Mauritius; Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division, African Union Commission; Dr Arjoon Suddhoo, Executive Director, Mauritius Research Council; Dr Krishna Oolun, Executive Director, ICT Authority, Mauritius; Mr N. Jugmohunsing, Assistant Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology, Mauritius; Zauria Saifodine, Director of ICT Capacity Building, Instituto Nacional de Tecnologias de Informação, e Comunicação, Mozambique; Dr Hemant Chittoo, Ag. Director General, University Technology Mauritius; Prof Romeela Mohee, Vice-Chancellor, University of Mauritius and Prof Darelle Van Greunen, School of ICT, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa.
From Wednesday afternoon to Friday lunchtime, this year's Scientific Programme featured 38 parallel tracks and over 150 papers and presentations, showcasing innovation, lessons learnt, applications and case studies from 38 countries around the world. Key thematic areas addressed included ICTs of high societal impact across Africa, including International Cooperation, eHealth, eInfrastructures, Technology Enhanced Learning and ICT Skills, Living Labs, Digital Libraries, Mobile Applications, ICT for Environmental Sustainability, eAgriculture, Societal Implications of Technology and eGovernment. The sessions were well attended with a good level of discussion and knowledge sharing.
IST-Africa and CAAST-Net Plus organised a joint Horizon 2020 Workshop on Wednesday afternoon. Mr Morten Møller, Programme Coordination, DG CONNECT, European Commission provided a more detailed presentation on Horizon 2020 and highlighted the ICT-39 International Cooperation Call that closes in April 2015. CAAST-Net Plus presented an overview of the role of National Contact Points in Horizon 2020 (Constantine Vaitsas) and Calls within Societal Challenge 1: Health, demographic change and wellbeing, Societal Challenge 2: Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and Bioeconomy and Societal Challenge 5: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials (George Essegbey and Melissa Plath). IST-Africa presented an overview of 2015 Calls within the Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies (LEIT) Work Programme, highlighting the ICT-39 Call focused on International Partnership building in Low and Middle Income Countries; Horizon 2020 Participation Rules and Instruments and steps involved in preparing a proposal and associated budget. This session was very well attended and was interactive in style with a lot of questions and discussion. There were quite a lot of African National Contact Points in attendance at the workshop and they introduced themselves so that delegates could follow up with them during the event in relation to including partners from their respective countries in upcoming Calls.
The IST-Africa Workshop showcased ICT Initiatives and Research Capacities in Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and Ethiopia to raise awareness of ongoing activities and to promote national institutions with capacity to participate in upcoming LEIT and Societal Challenges calls under Horizon 2020. This mapping of research expertise to Horizon 2020 areas provides input into the planning for future Work Programmes. Delegates took the opportunity to ask the IST-Africa partners for more details in specific areas of interest.
IST-Africa and CAAST-Net Plus jointly organised a closed Horizon 2020 Training Session for African National Contact Points (NCPs). IST-Africa supported the participation of ICT National Contact Points from Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nambia, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda. CAAST-Net Plus supported the participation of Health NCPs from Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. All supported NCPs participated in the Horizon 2020 Workshop on Wednesday afternoon, thematic sessions on Thursday and the NCP training session on Friday. The private training session provided an opportunity for the NCPs to learn more about how NCP Networks function in other African countries, information sources that they can access to support their activities, to meet NCPs from other African countries and to ask questions in relation to practical challenges that they are facing while supporting their national institutions.
The Closing Plenary on Friday 09 May focused on providing an overview of current Initiatives supporting ICT and Science Technology and Innovation. The session was well attended, chaired by Mr Vishnou Gondeea, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Mauritius and incorporated presentations from Mr Moses Bayingana, ICT Expert, Information Society Division, African Union Commission (African Internet Exchange System - AXIS), Maryse Chung, Mauritius Sugarcane Industry Research Institute (Land Use Mapping using Satellite imagery), M. V. Ramana, Mauritius Oceanography Institute (Prospects of Oceanography) and K. Poonoosamy, Managing Director, Board of Investment, Mauritius (New Economic Growth Engines of the Mauritius Economy).
The Awards for Best Paper and Runner-up Paper were announced by Mr Dan Faugoo, Executive Director, National Computer Board and presented by Mr Vishnou Gondeea, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of ICT.
The Best Paper was awarded to “Applying Keystroke Dynamics Techniques to Facial Thermography for Verification”, authored by George Henderson and Ian Ellefsen, Academy of Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Runner-up Paper was awarded to “Connectivity within Indian Ocean Islands (Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Reunion and Madagascar) - A Case for a Regional Internet Exchange”, authored by Mahen Soobron, Cheeranjiv Soobron, Soodevi Soobron, Aneerav Sukhoo and Rajnish Hawabhay, Mauritius.
Mr Vishnou Gondeea, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of ICT formally closed IST-Africa 2014 thanking IIMC, the IST-Africa Coordinator; National Computer Board; the team within the Ministry of ICT; the IST-Africa partners and the International Programme Committee for the significant work that went into making IST-Africa 2014 Week such a success. He thanked the European Commission for the support provided to the IST-Africa Initiative. He thanked the African Union Commission, Orange, SAP, FinCEAL project and Air Mauritius for their support and the presenters and delegates from their active participation.
The full conference report is available for download