eI4Africa · Teaming-up for exploiting e-Infrastructures' potential to boost RTDI in Africa

The eI4Africa project aims to boost the research, technological development and innovation (RTDI) potential of African e-Infrastructures and to support policy dialogues and Euro-African cooperation in the framework of the Joint Africa-EU Strategic Partnership on 'trade, regional integration and infrastructures' (JAES Partnership #3) as well as the Joint Africa-EU Strategic Partnership on 'science, information society and space' (JAES Partnership #8).<br/>Specifically, the eI4Africa project seeks to achieve the following main objectives:<br/>- Define and implement a structured multi-channel outreach strategy to support the development of African national and regional research and education networks (NRENs/RENs), build cooperation between Euro-African NRENs, RENs and user communities, raise awareness at policy level on the benefits and value of research and education networks, and promote and strengthen Euro-African collaborative research on e-Infrastructures and their applications;<br/>- Produce a state-of-the-art study of e-Infrastructure application uptake in Africa to identify who are early adopters of e-Infrastructures (providers) and which user communities are early beneficiaries (consumers) of e-Infrastructures;<br/>- Select existing flagship demonstrations from other continents and illustrate their relevance to the African context in order to stimulate policy dialogue on e-Infrastructures;<br/>- Stimulate targeted policy and regulatory discussions, including (but not limited to) cross-border connectivity and affordable access to infrastructure by organising awareness raising flagship African e-Infrastructure application demonstrations.<br/>The project Consortium consists of 9 partners with significant experience of ICT policies in Europe and Africa and Africa-EU S&T/ICT/Infrastructures cooperation. It is capable of significantly impacting the expansion of Euro-African e-Infrastructures in close liaison with the EC/AUC and in partnership with key stakeholders in the field.