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EU and AU to develop five flagship ICT projects
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| Source: | Computerworld Zambia |
| Date added: | 2008-10-29 |
| Theme: | Access | Capacity building | Content | Infrastructure |
The European Union and the African Union have partnered to jointly identify five flagship pan-African projects targeted at the A.U.'s Africa Regional Action Plan for the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE).
The projects will be launched "in the very short term," according to Vincent De Visscher, head of the E.U. delegation to Uganda, who spoke at the opening of the EuroAfriCa-ICT Awareness Workshop in Kampala on Monday.
The projects will serve to raise ICT awareness; create training programs for youth, policy makers and IT professionals; and support the deployment of local Internet exchange points and e-learning, De Visscher said.
The partnership also aims to support the development of African research and education networks and their interconnection to GEANT2, a high-bandwidth academic network serving Europe.
Interconnection to GEANT2 is crucial to integrating the African scientific community at a global level, De Visscher said.
A 1G-byte physical link has already been established between GEANT2 and Africa's UbuntuNet, and the AfricaConnect project, announced earlier this month, will further extend GEANT2 throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
“Another early deliverable was also announced: the AXIS project for supporting the deployment of a regional Internet infrastructure in Africa through the establishment of national Internet exchange points,” De Visscher added.
What must be done now, he said, is to set up partnerships between public, private and academic stakeholders to build on these concrete achievements.
“It is also essential for governments and donors to invest and create incentives to tackle areas of market failure, notably in rural areas, where 70 percent of the African population lives,” he said.
De Visscher explained that African public authorities have a great responsibility to prioritize ICT and science and technology, as well as to create an environment that encourages private investment. The greatest developments have occurred in countries that have increased liberalization and competition in their ICT markets, he noted.
EuroAfriCa-ICT is a seven-year project, partially funded by the E.U., that aims to promote and support strategic cooperation on ICT research between sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Europe.
Such cooperation is essential to opening the European research area to Africa, De Visscher said, which will ultimately contribute to the struggle against the digital and scientific divides on the continent.
EuroAfriCa-ICT, he noted, has already resulted in collaborative research projects and technology road-mapping initiatives in mobile Web technology, wireless access, open-source software, language technology, grid computing and natural disasters management.
Article by Edris Kisambira, IDG News Service, Kampala Bureau