IST-Africa (2008 – 2009) is a collaborative Initiative between 2 European and 7 African partners, government agencies responsible for ICT adoption and SandT research policy in 6 African ACP Countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda), and a FP7 National Contact Point (NCP) for South Africa. Main objectives are:· To open up the ERA to Africa, identify ICT activities, common needs and opportunities for ICT research collaboration between Europe and Africa;· To promote research cooperation between European and African organizations under FP7-ICT, and promote the inclusion of African partners in proposals addressing:o Challenge 1: Pervasive and Trusted Network and Service Infrastructureso Challenge 4: Digital Libraries and Contento Challenge 5: Towards sustainable and personalised healthcareo Challenge 6: ICT for Mobility, Environmental Sustainability and Energy Efficiencyo Challenge 7: ICT for Independent Living and Inclusion· Investigate regulation and its role in ICT take-up and usage in relation to areas such as mobile communication, broadband, accessibility and security · Analyse the RTD policy approach of developing and developed nations to provide valuable knowledge and inform Information Society related decisions at a policy level· To deliver 28 FP7 Training Workshops in IST-Africa Partner Countries to raise awareness of opportunities to participate in the FP7 ICT Research Theme, provide insight into open calls, and provide necessary support to interested organizations· To deliver 2 international research conferences in Africa (300+ delegates) to facilitate European-African networking, and highlight opportunities for research collaboration· To deliver 4 European IST-Africa Workshops, focused on raising awareness of collaboration opportunities and supporting Policy Dialogues with Africa · To maximize regional impact by engaging with key SandT stakeholders and publishing relevant reports, news, papers and presentat