News & Events

According to an article published on Primeur weekly magazine, at the e-IRG workshop in Vilnius, Bob Jones presented the vision of the EIROForum on the e-IRG proposed e-Infrastructure Commons. EIROForum is a collaboration between a number of large European Research Centres, including CERN, ESA, EFDA, and EMBL. EIROForum proposes to form "Research Accelerator Hubs" (ReAcH) that should be networked together. a ReAcH should be, in the vision of EIROForum, a sustainable, inclusive, flexible, integrated, innovative user driven e-Infrastructure. ReAcH can be owned and operated by a mixture of commercial companies and public organisations offering a portfolio of services.

Based in Rwandan capital Kigali, kLab is the landlocked country’s first dedicated innovation hub and a key figure in the march to becoming a force in the ICT sector.
 
Founded in June of 2012, kLab came about through a confluence of ideas and role-players.
 
“Individuals and key players in the private sector came together and felt it was needed to have this sort of space where people could come to work on their ideas and have an opportunity to commercialise them. They drafted a proposal and plan and then set about recruiting the relevant partners,” explains Claude Migisha K., general manager at kLab.
 
Private sector interest in the incubation space has also spurred on its development.
 

In the last decade, Kenya has moved from a very backward position technology-wise to one to look out for. From dead slow internet speeds to plenty of bandwidth, low mobile network coverage to robust countrywide coverage and now eyeing Long Term Evolution technology like the rest of the world.
 
Most of these developments have been mostly pushed by the consumer demands and need to keep up with the global business environment.
 
In 2006, the government had a plan whose focus was on building infrastructure to connect Kenyans to the internet. Thus, one fibre optic cable was welcome. That was then, now there are four fibre optic cables live in the country, a fifth one is expected to land very soon and two more later.
 
With sufficient broadband now in place, Kenya is ready for take off to be the ICT hub of Africa.
 
The ministry of Information and Communication has developed a five-year master plan that will determine the priorities and key initiatives to be undertaken to achieve this.
 

Microsoft is set to introduce an affordable smartphone tailored specifically for Africa as the global software giant moves to kickstart its 4Afrika Initiative, a drive to boost the adoption of smart devices, empower small businesses and accelerate skills development on the continent.
 
Announcing the 4Afrika Initiative at launch events in Egypt, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa last week, the Washington-based company said that it planned to help place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of young Africans by 2016.
 
At the same time, the initiative aimed to "bring 1-million African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) online, upskill 100 000 members of Africa's existing workforce, and help an additional 100 000 recent graduates develop employability skills, 75 percent of whom Microsoft will help place in jobs".
 

The Kenyan government today partnered with Nailab, a Kenyan incubator, to launch a $1.6 million technology incubation program in an effort to support ’s growing information and communications technology (ICT) startup community. The Kenyan government aims to become one the top 10 ICT hubs in the world.

TANZANIA is set to become a communication hub for the East, Central and Southern Africa region with the strengthening of the National Fibre Optic Cable network in and outside the country.
 
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology, Dr Florens Turuka, said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend that the National Fibre Optic Cable is now connected to all regional headquarters in Tanzania Mainland and some district headquarters.
 
Already, the National Fibre Optic Cable has been connected with undersea fibre optic cable systems of SEACOM and the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy). Plans are underway to connect it with The East African Marine System (TEAMS).