Due to the unprecedented circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic, IST-Africa 2020 took place as a virtual event from 18 – 22 May. An activity of IST-Africa, IST-Africa 2020 was the fifteenth in an Annual Conference Series bringing together senior representatives from leading public, private, education & research organisations, to discuss ICT policy, showcase research results and share knowledge.
Hosted by the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Supported by the European Commission and African Union Commission, IEEE Africa Council, IEEE Uganda Section, UK and Ireland IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology Chapter and IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee, IST-Africa 2020 attracted over 400 delegates from 44 countries representing policy makers, practitioners and researchers from leading commercial, government, research and societal organisations around the world. IST-Africa directly supports Information Society, Innovation and ICT aspects of the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership, the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2024), the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-30) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The Programme incorporated a mix of plenary presentations, paper sessions and interactive workshops. Thematic areas included: eInfrastructure, Global Development, Societal Implications of Technology, eGovernment, Content Technologies, eHealth, Entrepreneurship, Next Generation Computing, CyberSecurity, Technology-enhanced Learning and eAgriculture, Environment Sustainability.
Plenary presenters included:
- Paul Cunningham, IST-Africa Institute, Ireland
- Moctar Yedaly, Head, Information Society, African Union Commission
- Prof. Magdalena Salazar Palma, Director, IEEE Region 8
- Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye, Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Uganda
- Daan du Toit, Deputy Director-General: International Cooperation and Resources, Department of Science and Innovation, South Africa
- Dr Fadila Boughanemi, Deputy Head, International Cooperation II (Asia, Africa, Middle East & External Relations), DG Research and Innovation, European Commission
- Moses Bayingana, Senior Policy Officer for ICT, African Union Commission
- Ilari Lindy, SAIS2, Namibia
- Tom Fryer and Leila Dekkar, GÉANT in cooperation with UbuntunNet Alliance, WACREN and ASREN
- Paul Kostek, IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee Events Chair
- Vincent Kaabunga, IEEE Africa Council Chair
The IST-Africa 2020 conference has been highly participatory, which is even more important this year when interacting remotely. This has facilitated an excellent level of knowledge sharing with participation from a broad range of public, private, research, innovation and education, societal and funding organisations from 44 countries around the world. The feedback received from participants was very positive. Click here to download the conference report.
A selection of plenary and paper video presentations are available on the IST-Africa YouTube channel.
The IST-Africa 2020 Proceedings is available on an open access basis to members of the IST-Africa community – simply register if you do not have an existing account. Please note that each author retains the copyright in relation to their individual paper. Therefore no paper or part thereof may be reproduced without the written permission of the appropriate author(s).
IST-Africa Community Members can download and use the blind peer reviewed papers for personal use. IST-Africa papers should not be stored on electronic repositories without permission from the publisher.