"While ICT cannot address all of [Africa's] problems, they can do much to place Africa on a firmer industrial footing... and strengthen the continent's human resources, with training that leads to sustainable livelihoods." Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General (20.11.2002)

Supported by the European Commission under FP6 and FP7, IST-Africa (Regional Impact of Information Society Technologies in Africa) is a multi-stakeholder Initiative focused on:

- Supporting JEG8 Activities & Implementation of 8th Africa-EU Strategic Partnership

- Skills Transfer to Support Research Capacity Building & STI Development in Africa

- Community building to support EU-African Research Cooperation

IST-Africa (Regional Impact of Information Society Technologies in Africa) 2010 - 2011 is a collaborative Initiative between IIMC (Ireland, Coordinator), Department of Science and Technology (South Africa), Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology (Botswana), Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology (Lesotho), Ministry of Education (Namibia), ICT Policy Implementation Technical Unit (Mozambique), National Computer Board (Mauritius), COSTECH - Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Kenya), Ministere de l'Enseignement Superieur et de la Recherche Scientifique (Burundi), Ministry in President's Office in charge of Information and Communication Technology (Rwanda), Agence Nationale des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (Cameroon), Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique (Senegal) and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Egypt). IST-Africa 2010 - 2011 is supported by the European Commission under Framework Programme 7 (FP7).

During 2009 - 2011, IST-Africa is focused on supporting the Implementation of 8th Africa-EU Partnership on Science, Information Society & Space; strengthening the research dimension of Information Society policy dialogues between the European Commission and African countries and key regional organisations; analysis of African ICT policy and research priorities, including long term perspectives aligned with EU priorities and recommendations for future Africa - EU co-operation initiatives, including identification of matching counterpart funding and raising wider awareness of African research capacity, promoting participation of African organizations in the ICT Theme of FP7 (FP7-ICT) and identifying co-operation opportunities in fields of mutual interest. The goal is to increase visibility of mutual RTD potential and network relevant European and African stakeholders. The Annual IST-Africa Conference provides an opportunity to showcase relevant research capacity. IST-Africa 2010 (19 - 21 May) was hosted by South Africa and IST-Africa 2011 (04 - 06 May) will be hosted by the Government of Botswana.

The new Work Programme for FP7-ICT for 2011 - 2012 is published. ICT Call 7 will be published on 28 September with a closing date of 18 January 2011.

Calls currently open under the Capacities Programme include the FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2011-1 (Call 8), which closes on 25 November 2010 and FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2011-2 (Ninth Call) - closes 23 November 2010.

The Ministry of Education is hosting the National Research Symposium in Safari Hotel, Windhoek, 15 - 17 September. Within the overall programme there is an ICT Stream and IST-Africa is organising a half day FP7 Training Workshop to raise awareness of upcoming Calls during 2011 - 2012 under FP7-ICT on 15 September.

ICT 2010 takes place in Brussels Expo from 27 - 29 September as part of the EU Presidency in Belgium. The IST-Africa Exhibition stand in the International Village will showcase activities ongoing in the 14 partner countries, promote IST-Africa 2011 and showcase the Africa4All Parliamentary Initiative

The 8th Africa-EU Strategic Partnership (Science, Information Society and Space) Networking Session will take place on Wednesday 29 September.

IST-Africa will present research and ICT capacity in 14 African countries during the eChallenges e2010 Conference in Warsaw on 27 October. The IST-Africa partners will be available on the Exhibition stand to assist you in finding relevant partners for future Calls.