African e-science on the fast track
The eI4Africa project identified many African research networks whose work would benefit from access to more powerful ICT infrastructure, analysed their technology needs through a comprehensive state-of-the-art review. The partners also developed a number of flagship demonstrators to demonstrate the power of e-infrastructures for international collaboration, including an environmental data repository and a community health portal. These and more than 20 other applications can be accessed through the Africa Grid Science Gateway (sgw.africa-grid.org).
In addition, the project has contributed to the wider drive to advance e-science in Africa and facilitate interoperability with the European Grid Infrastructure. It has set up operational entities supporting various aspects of e-infrastructure development and issued recommendations for policy-makers and technology developers.
“eI4Africa supported e-infrastructure collaboration between Europe and Africa in many ways, but its main added value was to raise awareness and widely demonstrate the benefits of e-Infrastructures to African stakeholders,” says project coordinator Karine Valin of Sigma Orionis, France.
Global connections
Researchers today use staggering amounts of data. Certainly, scientists across the ages have done outstanding work in low-tech settings, often in relative isolation. But today, advances in many areas require vast, distributed computing capabilities — such as the computing grid technology that is used to process the glut of information generated by the Large Hadron Collider.
That said, e-science technology doesn’t just enable researchers to crunch more data. It also allows them to contribute to large-scale collaborative endeavours, disseminate their findings more widely, and draw on information generated by others. It is, in short, a major boost to science.
The necessary infrastructures don’t come cheap, and investments are needed to make them more widely available. Dedicated initiatives are promoting their development in Africa, with support from various EU-funded projects.
The UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking, a member of the eI4Africa consortium, is one prominent organisation pushing this e-infrastructure agenda, as is the West and Central African Research and Education Network. “These organisations are trying to organise and galvanise the management and technological infrastructure to make things happen,” says Simon J. E. Taylor of Brunel University London, the project’s technical coordinator.
eI4Africa, which ended in October 2014, assisted them in their task. It reached out to several African research networks and analysed their technology needs.
“We have found excellent communities that are working together despite technological problems. We haven’t solved these for them,” says Valin, “but we have built demonstrators they can use to show how their lives could change if their countries supported this kind of technology.”
There are many more such networks to be found, says Taylor; the ones involved in eI4Africa are representative, reflecting the exciting partnerships such groups could establish with the global e-science community. “Bringing researchers into an international collaboration is a fantastic opportunity,” he notes. “There is always that chance of a fundamental breakthrough when you bring together people working across different fields.”
A glimpse of the future
The flagship demonstrators a glimpse of an exciting future. “How can African researchers convince their governments of the potential of e-infrastructures and science gateways and support future development? Ours shows what can be achieved in a short time!” Taylor explains.
To jump start collaboration and development, eI4Africa has created a ‘project wall’ that promotes promising international projects where e-infrastructures can make an impact.
eI4Africa demo (low power networking and sensor equipment) at the final eI4Africa Conference (October 2014)
© eI4Africa Partnership
Check also our publication Investing in European success - EU-Africa cooperation in science, technology and innovation
