7th EC EuroAfrica-ICT Concertation Meeting

1 October. Brussels. The EuroAfrica-ICT Project (supported by the EC DG INFSO and coordinated by Sigma Orionis) aims at enhancing S&T cooperation on ICT research between sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Europe by:

• Supporting EuroAfrica-ICT dialogues
• Strengthening concertation between key stakeholders in the field
• Supporting the development of emerging Euro-African cooperation projects on ICT research
• Raising awareness in sub-Saharan Africa and in the Caribbean on FP7 and ICT
• Developing a web-based communication platform

Since an increasing number of regional, national and international initiatives addressing Euro-Africa S&T cooperation in ICT have been developed, EuroAfrica-ICT concertation meetings have been launched in the framework of the START FP6 project (in 2006) and are still organised on a regular basis (every 6 to 8 months) by the EuroAfrica-ICT FP7 project in Brussels, Belgium.

One of the interesting things about the latest EuroAfrica-ICT 7th Concertation Meeting was the opportunity that it provided to learn about the large number of overlapping initiatives funded by the European Commission that are exploring ways in which ICTs can be used both to support development initiatives in Africa, and also to facilitate increased collaboration between European and African researchers and organisations.

In particular, presentations by four of the European Technology Platforms drew attention to the potential for the work that they are doing in this ’space’:

• Networked and Electronic Media (NEM) ETP
• Networked European Software and Services Initiative (NESSI) ETP
• Integral Satcom Initiative (ISI) ETP
• Mobile and Wireless Communications (eMobility) ETP