EuroAfriCa-ICT · Connecting the EU and sub-Saharan Africa for ICT partnerships

The development of SandT cooperation on ICT is today of strategic and mutual interest to the EU and to Africa. A couple of projects supporting this cooperation have been funded these last years by the EC, including the START SSA, the last one launched under FP6 and upon which the EuroAfriCa-ICT project will build. <br/>From the experience gained through these initiatives, the EuroAfriCa-ICT partnership has identified the following project objectives to efficiently support the development of a strategic cooperation between the EU and Africa on ICT: support to the dialogue between DG InfSo and African authorities; identification, support and promotion of strategic cooperation opportunities; implementation of awareness activities in Africa (and the ACP region) and in Europe; promotion in the considered regions; development of synergies with national and international programmes and initiatives. <br/>The project will mainly focus on sub-Saharan Africa as a coherent target region for the development of SandT cooperation on ICT, including South Africa, considered as a key reference country in the project. <br/>A set of methodologies and activities allowing to reach these objectives over the project lifetime has been identified. Among the project outputs: the organisation of EuroAfriCa-ICT cooperation summits in Europe and in Africa, the organisation of awareness workshops in Africa and in the Caribbean region, the coordination of the work undertaken by the EuroAfriCa-ICT Group, the development of a mapping database and of a content oriented web portal.<br/>Between the START and the EuroAfriCa-ICT activities, a suited complementarity and a seamless continuity will be ensured. The START consortium has been extended on the European and African sides so that the EuroAfriCa-ICT ativities can have the widest impact on the European and African ICT communities. The project is formally supported by the NEPAD and by leading European companies and research organisations in the ICT field.