The Meraka Institute of South Africas CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) has taken the lead in organising the one-day Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This is in collaboration with partners in the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) EuroAfrica-ICT EU-funded project. The event takes place on 4 February 2010 at the United Nations Conference Centre.

Over 200 delegates from Europe and Africa are expected to attend, among them, information and communications technology (ICT) experts, policy and decision makers, heads of stakeholder institutions and international organisations, academia from sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Europe. They will be joined by high-level representatives from the European Commission (EC) Directorate General Information Society and Media (DG INFSO) and other EC Directorates General.

Africa is the continent where the scientific and digital divides are the widest. Worldwide there is consensus that ICT is important for development. This interactive event aims to provide ideal conditions to learn and reflect on achievements in the field of ICT research and development in the African context. This will in turn stimulate debate and thinking about future research through developing further concrete Euro-African cooperation projects on ICT research.

This second forum is organised as a post-event to the AU 2010 Summit and the AU-ECA 2010 Summit Exhibition, and is a follow-up to the first forum held in Brussels, Belgium, in March 2009. The event is supported by the African Union Commission (AUC HRST) and the EC-DG INFSO - International Relations Unit under the Information Communication Technology (ICT) theme of the FP7. The South African Department of Science and Technology is a sponsor of the event.

Topics to be addressed :

• Africa-EU Cooperation on ICT: from research to deployment - status & perspectives
• Implementation of the EU-AU Partnership on Science, ICT and Space (the 8th Partnership)
• Introduction to EC, AUC and African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States programmes
• Public Private Partnerships (PPP) - experiences and lessons learned
• How to enhance African organisations participation in FP7/ICT - presentation, guidance and support
• Thematic sessions (R&D ICT)

The forum will feature interactive and participative working sessions focused on various ICT thematic areas to address key successes, challenges and lessons learnt, identify future research topics, partners and practical strategies, and provide guidance to increase African participation in the next FP7 calls in each ICT thematic area. 
Thematic ICT priorities are as follows:

• e-Health - Health Information Systems & Sustainable and Personalised Healthcare
• e-Infrastructure
• Technology Enhanced Learning
• Digital Libraries and Intelligent Content
• Open Source Software
• ICT for Independent Living, e-Inclusion and e-Accessibility
• ICT for Environmental Sustainability and Energy Efficiency
• RFID and Networked Enterprise
• e-Government - Services to Citizens & Business

For more information see the agenda, or visit the website