"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:

- Training to reduce the Digital Divide

- Skills Transfer to support research capacity building & awareness

- Community building to support EU-African Research Cooperation

Over the past three years (2005 - 2007) with European Commission funding under the IST Programme of Framework Programme 6 (FP6), IST-Africa has trained over 1,000 government officials and researchers in Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania (in key areas including eGovernment, eHealth, eLearning) and organised two very successful international research conferences in Africa; IST-Africa 2006 (304 delegates from 38 countries) hosted by the Government of South Africa through the Department of Science & Technology, and IST-Africa 2007 (over 470 delegates from 51 countries) hosted by the Government of Mozambique through the Ministry of Science & Technology.

IST-Africa (Regional Impact of Information Society Technologies in Africa) is a collaborative Initiative between IIMC (Ireland, Coordinator), Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology (Botswana), Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology (Lesotho), Commonwealth Network of Information Technology for Development (Malta), ICT Policy Implementation Technical Unit (Mozambique), Ministry of Education (Namibia), Wits Commercial Enterprise (Pty) Ltd (South Africa), COSTECH - Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, and Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.

During 2008 & 2009, IST-Africa is focused on 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 Work Programme for ICT research in Framework Programme 7 (FP7) for 2009 and 2010 was published on 19 November 2008. Call 4 closes on 01 April 2009

The ACP Science and Technology Programme opened on 24 November 2008 with an extended closing date for receipt of postal submissions in Brussels of 13 March 2009. It is funded by the European Union (from the IXth European Development Fund and the European Union's General Budget BL 21.031700) and implemented by the ACP Secretariat. Thematic areas being supported include: Quality health care, Environmental research activities, Energy, Transport, Agriculture and agro-industry and Sustainable trade. Click here for more information.

Hosted by the Government of the Republic of Uganda through the Ministry of ICT, Supported by the European Commission and Technical Co-Sponsored by IEEE, IST-Africa 2009 will take place 06 - 08 May 2009. IST-Africa 2009 is the fourth in this Annual Conference Series.

The Advance Programme consists of two plenary sessions and 38 parallel sessions featuring over 120 presenters from government, commercial and research organisations in 37 countries (20 European countries, 14 African countries, Canada and US).

The Call for Exhibitors closes on 27 February.

Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) in cooperation with IIMC is organising a follow on IST-Africa FP7 Training Workshop in Kampala, Uganda on Friday 06 March. More information will be published online during early February.

DG Information Society and Media in cooperation the Department of Science and Technology of South-Africa, is organising a workshop on 11 February (09:30-13:00) at DG INFSO premises (Brussels, 33 Avenue de Beaulieu, room 0/54) on cooperation opportunities with South-Africa in ICT/FP7, with a specific focus on the Call 4 targeted objectives. It is necessary to pre-register to participate in this workshop. Please contact Thierry Devars for further information.

IST-Africa organised a half day workshop entitled "IST-Africa -Linking European & African Researchers" to raise awareness of African research capacity and encourage the participation of African research organisations in proposals submitted under the new workprogramme for 2009 - 2010 on Thursday 23 October, as part of the eChallenges e-2008 Conference

The Department of Science and Technology South Africa organised a FP7 Financial Guidelines Training Workshop in association with ESASTAP and IST-Africa in Johannesburg on 15 - 17 July '08. Click here for more information.

IST-Africa organised a series of FP7 Training Workshops in Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda between 26 November and 19 December 2007 in relation to Call 3 of FP7-ICT (FP7-ICT-2007-3).

On 01 October 2008, the European Commission and African Union Commission held a College-to-College meeting in Brussels to agree the next phase of the Implementation of the 8th Partnership (Science, Information Society and Space). A Joint Statement was published outlining the six agreed projects for early delivery out of the 19 "lighthouse projects" identified and designed by the African Union Commission (AUC) to respond to African needs that would serve as the framework for implementing the EU/AU Partnership on Science, ICT and Space and its Action plan. The 2 projects in the ICT theme selected are the "African Internet Exchange System", focused on enhancing internet deployment and use in Africa, and "Africa Connect" to extend the reach of the European research and education high-speed network GEANT to Sub-Saharan Africa. Click here for more information on the 8th Partnership

The European Commission published the ACP-Information and Communication Technologies [@CP-ICT] Programme under its 9th European Development Fund. The Contracting Authority is the ACP Secretariat. Click here for more information. IST-Africa supported the identification of European and African partners and the submission of a number of proposals under this Call.

The IST-Africa 2008 Conference took place in Windhoek Namibia, 07 - 09 May. It was very successful attracting over 460 delegates from Europe and Africa. Plenary speakers included Ministers of Science and Technology/ICT from Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, Director-Generals from DG Information Society and Media and DG Research of the European Commission and DST South Africa, Directors from the African Union Commission, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and SADC Secretariat. A high-level Round Table on the Implementation of the Africa-EU Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space took place during the Opening Plenary session, which was very successful. The Conference Report provides an overview of the findings of the conference.