Our blog is where you'll find all our project updates, highlights and achievements, as well as other news and events related to iMENTORS
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The eI4Africa and iMENTORS partnerships are very pleased to welcome a new associated organisation to the eI4Africa/iMentors joint conference on the theme “e-Infrastructures for Africa: Gateways to the Future” that will take place on October 29, 2014, in Brussels, Belgium.
CAAST-Net Plus is a network of 25 partner organisations from all over Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, working together to support bi-regional cooperation in research and innovation. Building on the activities and outputs of the CAAST-Net project (2008-2012), CAAST-Net Plus aims to:
Theme: Infrastructure – Innovation – Inclusion
Authors are invited to submit 500 word abstracts for presentation at UbuntuNet-Connect 2014, the 7th Annual Conference of the UbuntuNet Alliance. The UbuntuNet-Connect series of conferences has been held for the past 6 years and is regarded as one of the premier conferences in Africa. This year the conference will take place from 13 to 14 November 2014 in Lusaka, Zambia and will be hosted by Zambia Research and Education Network (ZAMREN), the NREN of Zambia.
Authors are invited to submit 500 word abstracts for presentation at UbuntuNet-Connect 2014, the 7th Annual Conference of the UbuntuNet Alliance. The UbuntuNet-Connect series of conferences has been held for the past 6 years and is regarded as one of the premier conferences in Africa. This year the conference will take place from 13 to 14 November 2014 in Lusaka, Zambia and will be hosted by Zambia Research and Education Network (ZAMREN), the NREN of Zambia.
According to an article published on Science|Business, the European Union (EU) trails when it comes to laying the foundations for a “smart” economy, with the US, Canada and Japan pressing ahead, warns a new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).
A stubborn “digital divide” in Europe, which fractures between an “extremely well-performing north” led by Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and a static south and east, is to blame says WEF.
“The EU is increasingly falling behind globally in building the digital infrastructure and innovative capacity that would allow its economies to unlock new sources of growth,” the report states.
WEF criticises the EU for not being as favourable to young entrepreneurs and start-ups as other regions, due in part to heavy regulation and fewer funds to start businesses.
Low patent application numbers, with half the activity of the US and less than half of the activity of advanced Asian economies, suggest, not just less innovation, but the “lack of knowledge and capacity of SMEs to efficiently deal” with filing patents.
A Q&A about how to succeed in Horizon 2020, with Robert-Jan Smits, Director General for Research and Innovation, European Commission
ESOF2014, Copenhagen, Valby Langgade 1, Carlsberg Museum, Glyptotek Hall - 26 June 2014
CONNECT is the magazine from the GÉANT community. The aim is to provide a regular update on the project and its vital work in supporting European research, as well as giving an insight into the users who depend on the network, and the community that makes GÉANT what it is.
The May issue of CONNECT, the magazine dedicated to research and education networking is out now!
You can view it view booklet style or you can download the PDF here. Printed copies are also available from
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Research and Innovation will be at the centre of discussions today, on the second day (13.5), of the Informal Competitiveness Council (Research) chaired by Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos, Greek Minister of Education and Religious Affairs.
During the morning session, Ministers will focus on the Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation for Research and Innovation and the opportunities offered for Mediterranean countries to develop their human, natural and technological capital.
Athina Vrakatseli, project Dissemination and Sustainability leader and Head of Policy Development Unit at Gov2u, was present at ICRI 2014. The 2nd International Conference on Research Infrastructures (2-4 April 2014 - Megaron Athens International Conference Centre) managed to highlight how global research infrastructures can respond to the grand challenges that the world is facing today, what lessons have been learned from the past, and what the priorities and directions are for the future.
“Plenary Session 1: Research Infrastructures for Global Challenges” set the tone for the whole conference while the other sessions discussed specific examples of challenges that need to be tackled for both single-site and distributed global facilities.
Research Infrastructures (RIs) play an increasingly central role in the advancement of scientific and technological knowledge. They are key instruments in bringing together a wide diversity of stakeholders to look for solutions to many of the challenges society is facing today. “We need intelligent openness”, said Geoffrey Boulton, Regius professor of Geology, University of Edinburgh, The Royal Society, UK.
More than ever before, Africans are turning to ICT-supported learning to grow their economies. In 2013, the eLearning Africa Report found that 40% of African technology-assisted learning professionals were using ICTs specifically for skills training, up from 18% the previous year.
Photographs Denize Nasilowski © ICWE GmbH
The benefit of ICT-supported learning is that it allows employers to provide vocational training to a great number of workers for little cost. This year’s eLearning Africa, 28th – 30th May in Kampala, Uganda, will explore how technology is revolutionising learning and training across the continent, under the theme “Opening Frontiers to the Future”.
According to an article published on isgtw, "The Internet2 community is Global,” says Ana Hunsinger, vice president of community engagement at Internet2. “The new name – Internet2 Global Summit – more accurately reflects the growing international nature of our community, the work they do, and the challenges we are rising to meet in partnership with the community.”
The Internet2 community and their initiatives touch many of the major innovations that define our modern digital lives. In 2013, research and education leaders, members, partners, and guests assembled at Internet2’s annual meeting in Arlington, Virginia, US – the first to have a yearly format. This April 6th to 10th, the newly named Global Summit in Denver, Colorado, US, will usher in a new era and continue to define ‘what’s next.’
According to an article published on Science|Business , the European Commission has recognised three innovators, in the fields of space, neuroscience and molecular diagnostics.
According to an article published on Science|Business , Europe’s research and innovation vitals are looking good, claimed President José Manuel Barroso this week, as researchers and policymakers descended on Brussels.
Hosted by the Government of Mauritius through the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the National Computer Board, and Supported by the European Commission (EC) and African Union Commission (AUC), IST-Africa 2014 (06 - 09 May) is the ninth in an annual series of Ministerial Level Technology Research Conferences.
27 February 2014, Florence
COEURE - COoperation for EUropean Research in Economics - is a project intended to bring together the key stakeholders in the European economic research space - scientists from the different strands of economic research in Europe, economic policy makers, and funders of economic research - and which, by a process of stocktaking, consultation and stakeholder involvement, is aimed to formulate an Agenda for Research Funding for Economics in Europe.
According to an article published on Science|Business , preparation for two new knowledge and innovation communities is underway, with bids invited in healthy living and active ageing and sustainable raw materials.
According to an article published on SciDev.Net, for scientists across Europe, last month marked the official start of a fresh wave of funding opportunities from the European Union (EU). On 11 December, the European Commission finally released the detailed topics and budgets available for the first two years of Horizon 2020, the EU’s eighth research and innovation funding package, worth nearly €80 billion (around US$110 billion) in total from 2014 to 2020.
Image courtesy of xedos4 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
According to an article published on SciDev.Net, the first day of the inaugural Africa Innovation Summit featured a plenary session on Best Practices in Innovation policymaking. It was a sensible place to start. But some of us have been talking about innovation in Africa for a long time. In 1998 the Africa Union’s Togo Plan of Action from suggested 1 per cent of each member state’s GDP should be invested in research and development. That’s how long this has been in discussion. Since then only four countries have made the target — Malawi, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda.
iMENTORS statistics have now been completed for all data recorded up until Dec. 15th! During the last recording period, we added a total of 1398 new organizations and 413 new projects to our database, an increase over the last recording period of approximately 67% and 290%, respectively. In addition, we recorded 330 research infrastructures - a brand new category of information now uploaded and available for search in the iMENTORS database.
Is your organization among the new additions to the iMENTORS database? Check our map today!
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The aim of iMENTORS is to help scientists, universities, research and education networks as well as policy-makers and international funders to gain valuable insights on the gaps and progress made in the region and to identify synergies when planning future ICT initiatives within the African continent.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 313203