African ICT Summit 2011

Regional integration is the focus of The 2nd ICT Africa Summit in Tshwane

The 2nd ICT Africa Summit will be held in Tshwane (formerly known as Pretoria) – South Africa, 24 – 26 October 2011 at the CSIR International Convention Centre

After the successful 2010 summit in Cape Town was attended by representatives from more than 12 African countries and international guests, the 2nd ICT Africa Summit will continue to focus on regional integration through ICT.

The 2011 dialogue will be hosted under the theme “Building a smarter continent through ICT networks”.

Last year’ summit attracted more than 200 delegates and was an auspicious event which provided a true platform for African ICT stakeholders to discuss the real issues pertaining to the continent’s economic integration through ICT networks, a platform that revealed the myriad business opportunities presented to Africa today.

Africa is undertaking a number of major ICT initiatives, many of which are regional in nature. All these regional initiatives require significant cooperation between countries to coordinate policy and regulatory frameworks. As such further regional Integration is needed to continue to strengthen various projects on the continent in ICT. After the Connect Africa Conference held in Kigali in 2007, a number of Goals were set for Africa to achieve regional integration in ICT.

“There has to be a platform on the continent that is strongly committed to connecting the Public and Private sectors to synchronise policy and regulatory frameworks with business opportunities sought after by the private sector, and the ICT Africa Summit is the best place for that,” said Rocky Kabeya, Project Manager of the Summit.

Africa needs to work together now more than ever before to achieve regional integration from both the back and front end infrastructure support development to lower costs in accessing broadband and internet connectivity. This continues to be the biggest challenge in closing the gap on the digital divide and will be one of the focus areas of the event. In last year’s presentation on “Unlocking The broadband Economy to Support National Competitiveness and social Inclusion”, Mr Peter Masemola, Director at Cisco Systems South Africa noted the importance of collaboration between governments, businesses and citizens in order to achieve socio – economic growth. “As Africa, we need to plan more thoroughly among ourselves on how to take advantage of these opportunities and natural resources on the continent. The major challenge is our competitiveness, and we need to begin to plan as one and work together as one. There are a few plans afoot, but they are slow in coming to fruition. Collective planning is key”, he concluded.

Mr Sergey Novikov, Head of the Global Research and Analysis Group EMEA at Kaspersky Lab also noted that when it comes to cyber security “There are no standards and global cooperation is problematic”. “The increasing number of connected devices on the continent requires a closer collaboration between various stakeholders in order to ensure maximum protection from cyber threats” he concluded.

Looking ahead, ICT Africa Summit is aiming to position itself as a platform that gives all Africans the opportunity to come together to share and exchange ideas, experience new technologies developed on the continent and beyond. The 2011 event will be held concurrently with the ICT Africa Expo and is expected to host more delegates. “Millions of dollars have been invested into ICT infrastructure in the last 18 months on the continent, and this should continue to bridge the Gap between Africa and the rest of the world and reduce access costs for all” said Moses M Mwanjirah, the Event Director. With major supporters such as MTN Business, Kaspersky Lab, CSIR, APC by Schneider, ICDL, Skyrove, CellSmart, Woolworths, Frost and Sullivan and many more, the event is set to be Africa’s biggest ICT platform.

To register as a delegate or to attend as a partner or a sponsor organization, please contact [email protected] or [email protected]. For updates follow us on twitter @ictafricasummit or visit www.ictafricasummit.co.za