Through the AfricaConnect 2 project, GÉANT is making great progress in bringing affordable Internet to African countries. By collaborating with AfricaConnect2, the pan-European GÉANT network strengthens Europe's links with the African continent and provides African research and education communities ​with a gateway for global ​collaborations – also a requirement for successful research data sharing.​​​

Recognising the importance of building on the interests and ​consensus of local partners, the AfricaConnect2 project adopts a modular approach adjusted to the specificities of the African sub-regions. AfricaConnect2 therefore comprises three geographical areas (clusters) and involves their respective regional networking organisations:

• ASREN in North Africa;​
• WACREN in West and Central Africa;
• and the UbuntuNet Alliance in Eastern and Southern Africa​.

The AfricaConnect2 was mentioned during the past IST-Africa2018 conference (Botswana, 9-11 May 2018). In particular, during this conference it was stressed that researchers and government are committed to turn research into knowledge products, implementing policies to strengthen human resource development,  sustainability, and to create new jobs. A condition for this to be successful is however stable Internet connectivity and sufficient bandwidth. 

Themes covered during the conference included also:

• mHealth,
• mHealth4Africa,
• technology-enhanced learning,
• cyber security,
• next generation computing,
• research cyber-infrastructure and NRENs,
• IoT,
• geospatial sciences and land administration,
• open data and open science,
• e-government,
• mAgriculture,
• ICT4D and content technologies and many more.

Related: 

• AFRICAN REGIONAL DATA CUBE (ARDC) - based on the Open Data Cube (ODC) infrastructure - LAUNCHED (May 2018)
• Apply to Participate in the CODATA-RDA Research Data Science Summer School and Advanced Workshops, Trieste, Italy 2018 - Deadline 21 May 2018
• The University of the Free State Library and Information Services, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) (Free State) would like to invite You to a WORKSHOP intended to create awareness about Open Science and OPen Data amongst Librarians: Date: 13 July 2018, Time: 08:00 to 11:30, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein Campus, REGISTER HERE
• International Data Week 2018 (Botswana, 5-8 November, 2018): deadline for papers and poster abstracts for SciDataCon: ‘The Digital Frontiers of Global Science’, 31 May: consult the Call for Papers and the Accepted Sessions
• Join the Programme Review Committee for SciDataCon, part of International Data Week 2018:  Apply here by Mon 21 May
• FOCUS on Agricultural Data Interest Group (IGAD) : What does FAIR mean for a community like agri-food? and What does it do about it? | RDA11 meeting
• Apply for Summer School 2018 "Riding the Data Life Cycle"  Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology (BRICS), 03 - 07 September 2018
• DATA-DRIVEN AGRICULTURE (Recorded Webinars; GFAR / CTA / GODAN, 2018)
• The Necessity for OPEN DATA on Land & Property Rights: a GODAN Action briefing paper (2018)
• What Do We Know About the Value of Data? By Jenna Slotin, Senior Director of Policy, Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (May 3, 2018)
•  The African Open Science Platform project (Slides: The African Open Science Platform: Policy | Infrastructure | Skills | Incentives)
• GODAN e-learning course on Open Data & Research Data Management in Agriculture and Nutrition

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