IST-Africa organised Horizon 2020 workshops in 11 IST-Africa partner countries (October - December 2016) to help researchers better understand participation opportunities, brainstorm ideas and share experiences. A mapping of common research priorities and institutions with relevant capacity was widely disseminated. Helpdesk support focused on fine-tuning concepts, providing feedback on proposals and suggestions for potential partners. The ICT-39-2017 Call was very successful with 71 Innovation Actions submitted, with 659 participations. Participants represented 29 African countries including strong participation from IST-Africa Partner Countries. 33 proposals were over threshold with 7 projects short-listed for funding, addressing Cybersecurity, Internet of Things, eAgriculture and eLearning. IST-Africa shared results during IST-Africa 2017, IST-Africa 2018 and national workshops organised in Egypt and Mozambique.
The IST-Africa Report on ICT Initiatives, Research and Innovation Priorities and Capacity (ISBN No: 978-1-905824-58-8) updated the ICT enabling Environment, ICT-related Initiatives, and Research Capacity and Priorities in IST-Africa Partner countries as at December 2018. It highlights African participation in Horizon 2020 and showcases ongoing activities and results from projects under ICT-39-2015 and ICT-39-2017. It provides insights into the Digital4Development framework launched by the European Commission. It provides an updated mapping of Innovation Spaces in partner countries.
The IST-Africa Report on ICT and Innovation-related Bilateral & Multilateral Cooperation Initiatives (ISBN No: 978-1-905824-61-8) provides an overview of bi-lateral and multi-lateral cooperation with IST-Africa Partner Countries as at December 2018. It incorporates a mapping of donors (and projects) supporting technology, Innovation and Research capacity in IST-Africa partner countries, and insights initiatives supported through Horizon 2020, European Development Funds and the Digital4Development framework.
IST-Africa has published Guides to Horizon 2020 Calls as new Work Programmes have been published to help identify relevant calls and deadlines.
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IST-Africa Week 2017 and IST-Africa Week 2018 provided an important platform to showcase African and European ICT-related Innovation, Science and Technology capacity and achievements, raise awareness of Horizon 2020 Calls, increase scientific publications from Africa (and relevant to Africa) and facilitate building partnerships. Senior representatives of the host Governments opened both conferences. IST-Africa 2017 incorporated over 190 presentations across 40 sessions sharing results from 35 countries. IST-Africa 2018 incorporated over 170 presenters from 36 countries in 37 thematically focused sessions. Across both events over 270 blind peer reviewed papers were published on an Open Access basis and via IEE Xplore.
