National ICT Research Capacity and Priorities for Cooperation - Ethiopia
National Priorities
Ethiopia's research and development agenda focuses on incremental approaches and areas that are relevant for economic growth such as core computing, internet technologies, social and economic applications, policy and regulation and the content industry.
National ICT Research Priorities include:
Physical Analytics Research in Agriculture
- To increase farm productivity
- Upgrade & expanding the deployed call centre service of farmers
- Agro-meteorology that can be applied towards crop yield monitoring and optimization.
- Applying the forecasting of soil moisture and temperature technology, among other things.
- Applying Water Distribution Management technology-from dam to farm because more than 50% of water is lost during transport
- Smart Agriculture that enables the delivery of the right amount of water and fertilizer with high spatial and temporal resolution in order to increase crop yield.
- Institutions involved include: MCIT, MOA, Ethiopia's leading Universities, Industry, TVET Agriculture institutes
Physical Analytics Research in Solar Forecasting, Data Centre and Infrastructure
- Renewable energy source is already an important part of the power mix. So forecasting technology is used to mange solar energy supply and demand.
- Data Center research with the MMT (data center infrastructure management solution).
- One critical question in relation to infrastructure is when and where to perform maintenance, which requires research
- Institutions involved: MCIT, Ministry Energy, Universities, Industry, TVET institutes
Health Care & Life Sciences Research
- Focused on Hospitals / Healthcare, Sensors, Controlled Release of Therapeutics
- Institutions involved: MCIT, MOH, Universities, Health Sector NGO, Industry, TVET Health institutes
Natural Language Processing
Indigenous Knowledge
National Research Capacity
The table provides overview of some of the universities with ICT/Engineering courses:
| Institution | Location | ICT/Engineering Department(s) | ICT/ Engineering Teaching Staff | Undergraduate Students | Post-Graduate (Masters, PhD) |
| Addis Ababa University | Addis Ababa | School of Information Science | 25 | 600 | 260 |
| Ambo University College | Ambo
Ambo
|
Department of Computer Science | 47 | 700 | 0 |
| Hawassa University | Hawassa | 30 | 950 | - | |
| Arbaminch University | Arbaminch | Institute of Technology Department of Computer Science Institute of Technology
Department of Computer Science
|
17 lecturers & 20 Assistant Lecturers 17 lecturers & 20 Assistant Lecturers
|
885 | 30 |
| Adama Science and Technology university | Adama | School of Technology; School of Mathematics & Computing Science | 61 | 2000 | 69 |
| Haramaya University | Haramaya | College of Computing and Informatics (Department of Computer Science, Information Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Management Information Systems, Software Engineering) | 78 | 1320 | 0 |
| Jimma University | Jimma | Institute of Technology Department of Computing Institute of Technology
Department of Computing
|
49 | 939 | 69 |
| Mekelle University | Mekelle | Ethiopian Institute of Technology | 15 | 120 | Not Yet Started |
| Mekelle University | Department of Computer Science, Information Systems and Information Technology | 29 | 1500 | 20 |
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology organised IST-Africa Stakeholder meeting with ICT stakeholders in Addis Ababa on 05 December 2013, 19 November 2014 and 21 November 2016 focused on ICT-related Research and Horizon 2020. Based on this consultation process, each stakeholder identified their areas of research expertise and track record and has been encouraged to develop an organisational profile. A summary of these findings are provided below:
The Addis Ababa University (AAU), which was established in 1950 is the oldest and largest higher education institution in Ethiopia, has a long track record of teaching, research and community service activities.
Based on prioritising research, AAU set up an Office of the Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer, which incorporates the Directorate of Research (3 offices focused on Research Capacity Building; Thematic Research, Sponsored Collaborative Grants and Small Grants; and Graduate Research Coordination), the Directorate of University-Industry Linkage and Technology Transfer (2 offices focused on Technology Transfer/Parks, Intellectual Property Rights, Adaptive Research and Incubation Centers; and Research Consultancy Services), and the Directorate of Publications and Disseminations (2 offices - Director for University Press and the office of Research Dissemination).
The IT Doctoral Programme was established in 2008. There are currently 70 PhD candidates and six research tracks.
There are Masters students in the area of Computer Science (100), Information Science (100) and Engineering (100). To date over 120 Master Students have graduated in the areas of Computer Science and Engineering.
- Relevant Depts: Institute of Technology (School of Electrical and Computer Engineering) IT Doctoral Programme, School of Information Sciences
- Research tracks in the IT Doctoral Programme include: Information retrieval; Language Technologies; Software Engineering; Wireless Communication; IP Networking (low power computing) and Information Systems
- Research tracks in the School of Information Sciences for Masters include: eHealth and Health Informatics (in cooperation with University of Oslo); Information Sciences and Computational Linguistics. Research areas of interest include: eHealth, eGovernment and Technology-enhanced Learning
- AAU has long-term partnerships in place with a number of institutions in France, UK, Spain and other EU Member States and has a good track record of FP7 participations (4 projects).
Arba Minch University (AMU) is a research university located in Arba Minch, about 500 km south of Addis Ababa. The Department of Computer Science and IT runs a Masters in Computer Science and Masters in Information Technology.
- Relevant Depts: Department of Computer Science and IT, Department of Electrical Engineering
- Research areas include: Future Internet, Cloud Computing; Big Data; Security (penetration testing); Technology-enhanced Learning; Language Technologies
- AMU has partnerships in place with a number of institutions in Europe and has been involved in 2 Environment projects under FP7.
Jimma University (JU) is a public Higher Educational institution established in December 1999 as a result of the amalgamation of Jimma College of Agriculture (founded in 1952), and Jimma Institute of Health Sciences (established in 1983). The two campuses are located in Jimma city 352 km southwest of Addis Ababa with an area of 167 hectares. JU is Ethiopia's first Innovative Community Oriented Education Institution of Higher Learning. Research is currently ongling focused on design and implementation of intergrated ubiquitious eTourism services for Ethiopia.
- Relevant Depts: College of Engineering and Technology, College of Public Health and Medical Science
- Research areas include: Internet of Things, Language Technologies, IP & Mobile Networking, Health
University of Gondar
The University of Gondar was originally established in 1954 as a Public Health College and Training Center (Gondar College of Medical Sciences until 2003). It currently has 21,636 undergraduates, 1,829 postgraduate students and provides 56 undergraduate and 64 postgraduate programs. Masters Programmes are provided in the areas of Computer Science, Information Science, Information Technology and Health Informatics.
- Relevant Dept: Computer Science, School of Technology; Department of Health Informatics, Institute of Public Health
- Research areas include: Information Retrieval, Languages architectures (programming), Wireless Networking, Health Sciences, Agriculture (Crop Production), Water, Environment, Sustainable Energy
- University of Gondar has a partnership with several European institutions and a track record in FP7. The Institute of Public Health is involved in a Horizon 2020 project funded under ICT-39-2015.
Haramaya University is one of the oldest universities in Ethiopia, initially set up as collaboration with the Oklahoma State University in 1952 and then as a College under Addis Ababa University in 1968. In 2004 the Faculty of Technology was added and the Faculty of Computing and Informatics and Faculty of Applied Sciences in 2008.
- Relevant Depts: College of Computing and Informatics - Dept of Computer Science, Dept of Information Systems, Dept of Information Science, Dept of Information Technology, Dept of Software Engineering
- Research areas include: Data Mining, Information Retrieval, Technology-enhanced Learning, Cyber Security
Mekelle University was established in May 2000 as a merger of Mekelle Business College and Mekelle University College. It is located in Mek'ele, 783 kilometers north of Addis Ababa.
- Relevant Depts: Ethiopian Institute of Technology, College of Health Sciences, Institute of Geo-Information and Earth Observation Sciences,
- Research projects include: MU-IUC Projects (The Flemish Inter-University Council (VLIR) Institutional University Cooperation Program); NORAD Project; HP-UNESCO Brain Gain Project; FP7 Projects (Environment - WAHARA 2011 - 2016, Food Agriculture and Biotechnology - EAU4FOOD 2011 - 2015)
HiLCoE (Higher Learning Centre of Excellence)
HiLCoE is a private college established in 1998 and offers Undergraduate and Post Graduate Degrees in Computer Science. Following accreditation from the Ministry of Education in September 2009, HiLCoE launched two Masters programs in Software Engineering and Computer Science.
- Relevant Dept: School of Computer Science & Technology
- Research areas include: Applied research (Tech Transfer); eServices; Information System Security; Environment and Green Technology
ICT Centre of Excellence
ICT Center of Excellence (ICTCoE) was formed by the former Ethiopian Information and Communication Technology Development Agency (EICTDA), now the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), and is hosted by the Addis Ababa University (AAU). ICTCoE aims to be a catalyst and an enabler of dramatic progress of ICT in Ethiopia to support socio economic development.
The Center of Excellence aims to utilize innovation based on high quality research and development, training, consulting, and technology transfer, to drive rapid advances of ICT, and its deployment for breakthrough results in national development. ICT CoE will do this by developing networks of partnerships with organizations, both public and private, and local as well as international. These partnerships will enable the CoE to develop into a hub or focal point that will mobilize a wide range of resources.
The Research and Development department is mandated to conduct use-inspired ICT research, produce innovative technologies, carry out market oriented training and/or education of ICT professionals, disseminate relevant state-of-the-art ICT tools and best practices, and provide consultancy services in relevant areas of ICT that are not addressed by other organizations.
- Research areas include: Localisation, eLearning, Open Sources Software, Service Management
Ministry of Education - ICT Directorate
- Research areas of interest include: Cloud Computing, Big Data, Open Source, Technology-enhanced Learning
Ethiopia Telecom
- Relevant Dept: Network Division
- Research areas: eGovernment, eServices, Content Technologies, Future Internet, Advanced Computing
OSH (Private consulting company)
- Research areas include: Cloud Computing, Green ICT
ICT-39 Priority Themes
Based on consultation with stakeholders and discussion during the IST-Africa H2020 Workshop on 19 November 2014 and 21 November 2016 the following thematic areas are considered to be important in the context of the ICT-39 Call:
| Thematic Areas | Topics | Partners include |
| eHealth / mHealth | Health Information Systems/Electronic Health Records; Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH); Health diagnosis and Telemedicine; prevention and treatment of Malaria, TB, diabetes and tropical diseases; Mechanisms and alarms to deal with compliance issues (remembering to take medication, attend clinic etc); indigenous knowledge system and Networks to support specific patient groups | Addis Ababa University (School of Information Science); University of Gondar (Department of Health Informatics, Institute of Public Health; Dept. of Computer Science, School of Technology); Debre Birhan University (College of Computing); Jimma University |
| eAgriculture | Supporting pastoralists; Cloud Computing for Agricultural community | Arba Minch University (Department of Computer Science, Institute of Technology); University of Gondar |
| Natural Language Processing | Amharic - English eDictionary | Addis Ababa University (School of Information Science) |
Mapping to H2020 Themes
The mapping to Horizon 2020 Research areas is summarised below:
| Horizon 2020 Industrial Leadership | Institution and Research area |
| Future Internet | Addis Ababa University: Wireless Computing, IP Networking; Arba Minch University: Future Internet, Cloud Computing; Jimma University : Internet of Things, IP & Mobile Networking; University of Gondar: Wireless Networking; Bahir Dar University, Adama S&T University: Future Internet, Cloud Computing, Wireless Networking; Mekelle University (MIT): Wireless Computing, IP Networking, cloud computing |
| Content Technologies & Information Management | Addis Ababa University: Computational Linguistics & Language Technologies, Technology-enhanced Learning, Information Systems; Arba Minch University: Big Data, Technology-enhanced Learning; Language Technologies; Jimma University : Language Technologies; University of Gondar: Languages architectures (programming), Information Retrieval; Haramaya University: Data Mining, Information Retrieval, Technology-enhanced learning; ICT College of Excellence: Localisation, Technology-enhanced Learning |
| Horizon 2020 Societal Challenges | Institution, Relevant Dept and Research area |
| Health | Addis Ababa University: Health Informatics, eHealth; Jimma University : Health Sciences; Mekelle University : Health Sciences; University of Gondar: Health Informatics, eHealth; Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute |
| Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture | University of Gondar, University of Haromaya, Mekelle University University of Ambo: Crop Production University of Gondar, University of Haromaya, Mekelle University University of Ambo: Crop Production
|
| Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy | University of Gondar, Mekelle university, Adama University, Adis Ababa University, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University: Sustainable Energy (solar energy, wind & geothermal) |
| Climate Action, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials | University of Gondar: Water, Environment; Mekelle University: Environment; HiLCoE: Environment and Green Technology; Arba Minch University; Addis Ababa University |
| Secure Societies | Haramaya University: Cyber Security; INSA (Information & Network Security Agency): Cyber Security, Information System Security; HiLCoE: Information System Security |
Level of Research Maturity
Ethiopia has a good research base and experience of collaborative research with participation in over 23 projects and securing research funding of over €3.66 million in funding under FP7 as well as funding secured by 24 individual researchers through Marie Curie Actions. Addis Ababa University, Arba Minch University Mekelle University and University of Gondar have a track record from participation in FP7 projects.
Up to September 2018, Ethiopian organisations have secured participation in 20 Horizon 2020 projects with research funding in excess of €2.278 million across a range of thematic areas:
- SOCIETY, H2020-INT-INCO-2014 - RINEA (CSA - Coordination & support action) - African Union
- ICT-39-2015: mHealth4Afrika (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - University of Gondar; DMC-MALVEC (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Jimma University; its4land (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Bahir Dar University
- H2020-ICT-2016-INT - IST-Africa 2016 - 2018 (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Ministry of Communication and Information Technology
- H2020-WATER-2015: WATERSPOUTT (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Mekelle University); FLOWERED (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Addis Ababa University; Geomatrix Plc)
- ERC-2015-AdG - BM - Addis Ababa University
- H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014 - EUROLEISH-NET (MSCA-ITN-ETN) - University of Gondar
- H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014 - DiasporaLink (MSCA-RISE) - Addis Ababa University
- H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014 - IMIXSED (MSCA-RISE) - Jimma University
- H2020-WATER-2015-two-stage - DAFNE (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Water and Land Resource Center
- H2020-SFS-2016-2 - InnovAfrica (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Haramaya University
- H2020-SFS-2016-2 - MUSA (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional Agricultural Research Institute
- H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016 - SLAFNET (MSCA-RISE) - Addis Ababa University
- H2020-SFS-2017-1 - AfriCultuReS (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Geosas Consulting Service Plc
- H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017 - BRTE (MSCA-RISE) - Wolaita Sodo University
- H2020-ICT-2017-1 / ICT-39-2017 - SAMS (IA - Innovation Action) - Oromiya Agricultural Research Institute and iceaddis It Consultancy Plc
- H2020-RUR-2017-2 - NEXTFOOD (RIA - Research and Innovation Action) - Mekelle University
- H2020-SFS-2018-1 - LEAP4FNSSA (CSA - Coordination & support action) - African Union
Some institutions have well developed Masters and PhD Programmes and are looking at collaborative research cross border. The increase in the number of Higher Education Institutions and the Government's emphasis on leveraging ICT are providing strong building blocks for the development of further research capacity in the country.
