Science and technology (S&T) has long been one of the most active areas of cooperation of the Strategic Partnership between South Africa and the European Union. The “Science at the Summit” programme is accordingly presented by the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST), in collaboration with several European partners, on the occasion of the Third South Africa – European Union Summit, taking place in Brussels on September 28, 2010.

The programme, taking place in Brussels on September 27-29, 2010, comprises 5 seminars:

• Monday 27 September 2010: Marking 50 years of laser innovation and exploring opportunities for African-European partnership in laser science and technology
• Tuesday 28 September 2010: Celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity and promoting South Africa’s biodiversity research partnerships with Europe
• Tuesday 28 September 2010: The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and the key contribution of South African – European Collaboration
• Wednesday 29 September 2010: Sport as driver for research and innovation and marking South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
• Wednesday 29 September 2010: Access for European researchers to South Africa’s national research facilities – the first information day of the SAccess FP7 project

“Science at the Summit” is presented as part of the European South African Science and Technology Advanced Programme (ESASTAP) a Support Action funded under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7) and implemented by the DST to promote cooperation in S&T between South Africa and the EU.

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“Access to knowledge in Africa. The role of copyright“, published in association with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Shuttleworth Foundation and the LINK Centre, Graduate School of Public and Development Management (P&DM) – University of the Witwatersrand, gives the reader an understanding of the legal and practical issues posed by copyright for access to learning materials in Africa, and identifies the relevant lessons, best policies and best practices that would broaden and deepen this access. This book is based on the work of the African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) research network, launched in late 2007 as a network of researchers committed to probing the relationship between copyright and learning materials access in eight African countries: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.

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The desire to take direct financial and management control of science is an increasingly common refrain on the African continent: many countries are keen to expand their domestic science budgets, even if, due to the poor public finances situation, this desire has not turned into concrete actions yet (most Sub-Saharan African countries spend an average of just 0.3 per cent of their GDP on science and technology), writes the journalist.

However, despite evidence of African nationalism, few have gone as far as Uganda in turning down offers of foreign assistance: the recent oil finds in the country has spurred the government’s belief that it can afford to spend more on science. Even if this is potentially a positive initiative, it could be a real treaty for the science sector, which could rapidly decline unless the whole government strongly supports the commitment undertaken. In Linda Nordling’s opinion, to reassure Uganda’s scientists the government should, at first, “renew a portion of the MSI agreement, just in case the national funding fails to materialise”.

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The next meeting of the Joint Expert Group for the 8th Africa-EU Strategic Partnership for Science, Information Society and Space (JEG8), organised by the European Commission and the African Union Commission, will be hosted by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) in Brussels (Belgium) on September 15-17, 2010.

This meeting follows on from the previous JEG8 meeting hosted in Durban (South Africa) on May 18, 2010 by the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST). The meeting will focus on reaching a consensus on the implementation of the 8th Partnership (Action Plan II, 2011-2013). In this context, partners are also invited to propose new projects that could have African regional benefits and could be implemented under this partnership.

The EuroAfrica-ICT (supporting policy dialogues and strengthening cooperation on ICT research between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa) and the eI-Africa (strengthening cooperation on e-Infrastructures between Europe & Africa) are very pleased to announce their participation in the meeting, which constitutes a great opportunity to enhance a fruitful networking and to exchange views and ideas in the field.

eLearning Africa 2011, which is the Continent’s largest annual assembly of eLearning and education professionals from Africa and beyond, is taking place at the Mlimani City Conference Centre in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) on May 25-27, 2011.

After the great success of eLearning Africa 2010, the organising team is currently working on the topics of the next event: the 6th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training will be filled with debates, discussions, networking and knowledge-sharing among practitioners and policymakers from all over the world, with the aim of building and expanding a worldwide network for people involved in all aspects of technology-enhanced education and training in Africa. A call for papers will be issued in September.

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]]> http://euroafrica-ict.org/2010/08/18/elearning-africa-2011/feed/ 0 http://euroafrica-ict.org/2010/08/18/the-africanagenda2010-public-e-consultation-on-african-development-priorities/ http://euroafrica-ict.org/2010/08/18/the-africanagenda2010-public-e-consultation-on-african-development-priorities/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:03:52 +0000 Website editor http://euroafrica-ict.org/?p=2690 The Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT) is coordinating an e-consultation open to all African citizens aiming at soliciting people’s perspectives on what they think are the key challenges, opportunities and emerging priorities for Africa. With an eye to the upcoming United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be held in September 20-22, 2010 in New York, the target is to develop a citizen-driven agenda for Africa in the second decade of the 21st century.

The final outcome of this consultative process will be a document highlighting key emerging priority issues for Africa for 2010 and beyond. It will be presented to the African Union and shared at other strategic platforms at country, regional and continental levels, with special attention to those that can implement its recommendations by 2015 and contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development across the continent.

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The E-Africa conference is the first international ICST Conference on e-Services for Agriculture, Food, Environment and Life Sciences in Africa and it will be held on September 8-10, 2010 in Johannesburg (South Africa).

The two day conference will focus on for the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use Information and Communication Technologies in the rural domain.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programme office have been invited to organise a COST session on the Food and Agriculture theme. This session will be held on September 10, 2010 from 14:30 to 17:30, and will be targeted at the conference participants and other SA Food and Agriculture (F&A) researchers who may not be part of the main conference. Please see the Programme here.

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The EuroAfrica-ICT Partnership is very pleased to announce a new sponsor of the “3rd Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research”: eLearning Africa is the largest international conference on ICT for development, education and training on the African Continent.

The 6th conference will take place from May 25–27, 2011 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,. Every year the conference grows, drawing in an increasing number of participants from Africa (80%) and beyond. Starting with 832 participants in Addis Ababa in 2006, the number increased to 1778 in Lusaka, Zambia. eLearning Africa is the key networking event for educational decision-makers and practitioners in governments, public and private education and corporate HRD and for all those who are passionate about the opportunities offered by new technology for bringing genuine social progress to Africa through education.

The 3rd EuroAfrica Cooperation Forum on ICT Research at a glance.

Ideal-ist, the most successful international ICT partner search network in the EU’s Framework Programme, has opened its online search tool for these Calls: proposers will be helped to find appropriate partners for their projects.

Ideal-ist has been providing its services for 14 years, helping to interpret the ICT work programme of the Framework Programme, submitting project ideas in line with the Challenges & Objectives, finding the right partners for projects and bringing consortia together for proposals.

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The Conference, organised by the Agency for the Scientific Cooperation between Africa and Luxembourg (ACSAL) with the support of the European Commission and the National Research Fund of Luxembourg (FNR), is taking place on November 11-12, 2010 in Luxembourg.

The conference, aiming at developing policy guidelines for scientific development of Africa, will bring together experts, academics and researchers, institutional and non-governmental actors from different regions in the world to find a comprehensive solution capable of taking into account local constraints.

The main objectives of the event are to: 1/. recommend priority actions and projects in line with the document recently drafted a the first edition of the conference about science and technology for development in Africa; 2/. identify a typology of thematic actions related to the scientific field (Research, training and capacity building, knowledge and innovation) to contribute to sustainable development in Africa; 3/. identify constraints and requirements for the implementation of integrated scientific activities contributing to sustainable development in Africa.

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