IST-Africa presented results during IEEE ISTAS 2015, Dublin, 11 - 12 November 2015

13 November 2015

The 21st Anniversary of IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS 2015) focused on Culture, Ethics and the Knowledge Society, with a strong focus placed on showcasing 2015 as European Year of Development. It took place at the Grand Hotel Malahide, Country Dublin, Ireland from 11 - 12 November with over 120 delegates from 21 countries and five continents.

IEEE ISTAS 2015 started with a moderated panel discussion focused on Technology and Development, with insights and perspectives shared by Gordon Day, 2012 President, IEEE, Androulla Kaminara, DG DEVCO, European Commission, Dominic MacSorley, Chief Executive Officer, Concern Worldwide, and Diane Whitehouse, Chair, IFIP TC9.

All participants agreed that the highlight of IEEE ISTAS 2015 was a compelling Official Opening Address from the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins that was thought provoking and challenging. What was striking was the high level of erudition and the clear personal engagement by the Irish Head of State in issues addressed by the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology. The full text of President Higgins remarks, will be published in an edition of Technology and Society Magazine next year.

The Scientific Programme covered a broad range of topics related to Social Implications of Technology, with parallel sessions addressing ICT4D and Humanitarian Engineering, Impact of Consumer Electronics, Privacy and Security Issues, IST-Africa - Supporting Research Collaboration with Africa, and Professional and Research Ethics in STEM.

The afternoon moderated Plenary Panel on Professional and Research Ethics in Science and Technology featured contributions from Prof. Linda Hogan, Trinity College Dublin, Greg Adamson and Ron Arkin. This panel was free flowing in nature, and covered a broad range of topics, leaving delegates with much food for thought to discuss during the enjoyable networking Conference Dinner.

The Closing Plenary Panel on Future Internet and Smart Cities was simultaneously cast as part of IEEE OnlineGreenComm 2015, with contributions from Prof. Jaafar Elmirghani, University of Leeds, Louise Krug, BT plc, Jessica McCarthy, Intel Labs and Prof. Robert Shorten, IBM Research.

The Scientific Programme covered a broad range of topics related to Social Implications of Technology, with parallel sessions addressing ICT4D and Humanitarian Engineering, Impact of Consumer Electronics, Privacy and Security Issues, IST-Africa - Supporting Research Collaboration with Africa, and Professional and Research Ethics in STEM.

The IST-Africa session was very interactive in nature focused around 5 presentations.

Overview of African Research Priorities and Research Capacity

Paul Cunningham (IST-Africa Coordinator/ IIMC, Ireland) provided an overview of African research priorities and research capacity sharing results from IST-Africa. Paul provided a context outlining the focus of IST-Africa activities and partnership. Based on research undertaken to date a snap shot of common research priorities was presented based on National Research priorities for each of the 18 IST-Africa partner countries was followed by a mapping of Research capacity and Innovation spaces. Paul provided insights into some of the impacts of IST-Africa to date. Paul invited the participants to submit papers for IST-Africa 2016 and download relevant materials from the IST-Africa portal.

Opportunities for Cooperation with African under Horizon 2020

Miriam Cunningham (IST-Africa Coordinator/ IIMC, Ireland) provided insights into opportunities for cooperation with Africa under Horizon 2020. Miriam commenced by providing a context of the main pillars of Horizon 2020 and basic principles related to International cooperation. Miriam highlighted the main research areas under Societal Challenges, LEIT and opportunities for cooperation under Marie Curie. Dedicated Calls for Cooperation with Africa in the 2016 - 2017 Work Programmes were discussed including ICT-39-2017. Participants were actively encouraged to download the Work programmes, identify research areas of most interest and reach out of African research institutions to co-design relevant proposals.

Opportunities for Collaboration with American Research and Innovation Stakeholders

Dr Fahmida Chowdhury (National Science Foundation, US) provided insights into a range of different funding mechanisms to collaborate with American Research and Innovation Stakeholders

mHealth4Afrika - Community-based ICT for Maternal Healthcare in Africa

In the context of providing insights into the results of ICT-39-2015, Miriam Cunningham briefly provided insights into co-design process undertaken to prepare the mHealth4Afrika Research and Innovation project - identifying relevant priority areas and existing constraints (technical, human resource and training). mHealth4Afrika will research and evaluate the potential impact of co-designing an open source, multilingual mHealth platform to support quality community-based maternal and Newborn healthcare delivery at clinic level, based on end-user requirements in Southern Africa (Malawi, South Africa), East Africa (Kenya) & Horn of Africa (Ethiopia). Miriam highlighted that undertaking research and innovation activities across different regions of Africa provides a unique opportunity to collect a critical mass of comparative data related to end-user requirements and pilot evaluation, to assist in analysing similarities and differences in participating countries.

Insights into Open Innovation and ICT Entrepreneurship in Africa

Paul Cunningham presented research undertaken on Open Innovation and ICT Entrepreneurship in Africa.

Conclusion

The IST-Africa session was well attended with over 50 participants from Europe, Africa, US and Australia. There was a lot of interest in how to leverage Horizon 2020 to engage in research cooperation with Africa and identify relevant partners based on the mapping of research capacity undertaken by IST-Africa. Discussions continued after the session during the coffee break in relation to how to best leverage the ICT-39-2017 Call.