blog
ICT4D

ICT for Development

Entries Tagged as 'entrepreneurship'

The Sector Project ICT4D on behalf of BMZ and with the support of GIZ’s ict@innovation team has just released it’s IT Sector Promotion Toolbox. The Toolbox, together with its explanatory Manual, introduces a methodology and a set of practical tools to promote the IT industry in developing and emerging countries. Relying on German Development Cooperation’s instruments and project experience, the Manual and the Toolbox provide a strategic “roadmap” for IT sector promotion which can be flexibly adapted to accommodate future changes in resources, global markets and technologies. They have primarily been designed for the staff of ministries and agencies involved in economic development, for managers and staff members of IT clusters, associations, networks, communities of practice and chambers of commerce. They should serve as orientation for staff of donor organisations involved in private sector development, economic development, and employment promotion as well as in information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D)/development informatics. 

The Manual and the Toolbox could be found on the “IT Sector Promotion Tools” page of this blog.

The Open AIR research and training project on the role of intellectual property in open development is inviting preliminary proposals for research case studies in the area of intellectual property, open innovation and collaborative creativity in Africa in cooperation with the initiative “commons@ip – Harnessing the knowledge commons for open innovation” of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The deadline for proposals is 1st April 2011.

[Read more →]

More networking of African IT specialists with Europe and joint building of advanced training materials – this is what a new partnership of GIZ’s ict@innovation programme with the Europe-wide ‘Free Technology Academy’ (FTA) is all about. ict@innovation is an African capacity building programme which supports small and medium ICT enterprises (IT-SME) to create a business model with Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and aims to encourage the growth of African ICT industries.

[Read more →]

I just found this new publication by Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is giving a good overview of Finland’s current ICT4D strategy and running programmes. Its interesting to see that there is a strong focus on building local innovation capacities, business incubation and linking entrepreneurship to  technologies for the poor (and of course mobile solutions – its Finland after all…). Cheers and happy new year. And here’s the link: http://www.formin.fi/public/default.aspx?contentid=208262&nodeid=34605&contentlan=2&culture=en-US

I had the good fortune to participate in three fascinating events this month, all with overlapping themes that matter to Kabissa but taking different approaches and targeting different communities. If you were at one of these events, I’d like to invite you to check out the other ones and look for collaboration opportunities. Please also join Kabissa, add your organizations working in Africa to the Kabissa directory and introduce yourself in the groups. (crossposted from Kabissa ICT Peer Learning group) [Read more →]

Liebe KollegInnen, letzten Monat habe ich unter dem Titel FOSS – Ein Thema für die Privatwirtschaftsentwicklung in Partnerländern? eine Präsentation im Kompetenzfeld Privatwirtschaftsentwicklung und Wirtschaftspolitik (gtz Zentrale) gehalten, u.a. mit Zahlen zu Job-Creation durch FOSS in Europa und Links zur “Nawi-Wirkungskette” (siehe Anhang). Über Kommentare/ Feedback und Input freue ich mich, auch über Mitstreiter, um die noch weitere Links zwischen Privatwirtschaftsentwicklung und FOSS zu finden. BG Balthas

Interesting article in the New York Times Magazine (April 13 2008) on the use of mobile phones in developing countries, reaching out to the bottom of the pyramid, social entrepreneurship and the increase in demand for ICT by the poor

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13anthropology-t.html