Appfrica is series of international technology conferences and forums for software developers, entrepreneurs, ngo’s and others interested in discussing how web technologies can benefit developing nations. Whether this be strengthening economies by participating in the world marketplace or innovating operations as they currently exist. The first event will be held July 31 at Makerere University. Visit the live wiki for more.

APPFRICA is a series of international tech conferences and think-tanks aimed at bringing together researchers, industry leaders, businesses, educators, governmental and non-governmental organizations to discuss novel uses of web technology for innovation and education in the developing world.

Starting off as a panel at the Technology for Innovation and Education in Developing Countries (http://cs.joensuu.fi/tedc2008/) at Mekerere University, Appfrica is a place where leaders in the tech industry from around the globe will use their collective knowledge to tackle the world issues of hunger, sustainable energy sources, HIV/AIDS and more. It takes place on July 31, 2008 at the esteemed Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.

As referenced by TEDC, the 2007 World Bank Report entitled “Building Knowledge Economies: Advanced Strategies for Development” states that the four key drivers for successful knowledge economies in the 21st Century are education, information technology infrastructure, research and development focused on innovation, and free market based economies. The goal of Appfrica is to help cultivate minds and encourage entrepreneurship, collaboration and free-market competition with this research in mind.

LetArtTalk

1. “Contest” section similar to categories or groups on Flickr.
2. Each Contest will feature a profile of the cause it supports.
3. Integration with ChipIn to show how much money has been raised.
4. Prize Money or Award allocated with each contest.
5. Contest specific galleries that show other contestant entries.

Here’s What We’re Working on Right Now:

- Widgets that would allow you display galleries on your websites and social networks
- Social Bookmarking Buttons (Plurk, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, Del.icio.us)
- Geotagging for Photographs

If there are other features you’d like to see implemented, please post suggestions as comments below.

Makerere University, Uganda’s largest university, was first established as a technical school in 1922, and in 1963 it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees of the University of London. It became an independent national university in 1970 when the University of East Africa was split into three independent universities: University of Nairobi (Kenya), University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Makerere University. Today, Makerere University has 22 faculties, institutes and schools offering programmes for about 30,000 undergraduates and 3,000 postgraduates.

Makerere is increasingly becoming the center of attention when it comes to education for it’s support of international conferences like TEDC2008 and the outstanding performance of it’s students.

Jelly is casual coworking. We invite people to work from our home for the day. We provide chairs and sofas, wireless internet, and interesting people to talk to, collaborate with, and bounce ideas off of.

You bring a laptop (or whatever you need to get work done) and a friendly disposition.

To join Jelly! East Africa visit the following links:

http://groups.google.com/group/jelly-eastafrica
https://jellynyc.pbwiki.com/Jelly-East-Africa

As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to innovation and technology, we are pleased to announce the East Africa Google Gadget Competition 2008. Through this competition, we aim to reward and encourage students in East Africa to envision, design, and develop gadgets that can impact consumers globally.

If you’re a student in East Africa, the Google Gadget Competition is your chance to participate in a technical competition and create a functioning application of your own design. You might build a calendar of school events, an interactive quiz, or anything you can dream up for a web page. If you’ve never taken a web design class, you can probably create a gadget in a few weeks.

Multiple prizes will be awarded based on the strength of the submitted gadgets. All entered students will be notified of the results of their gadget creation in August 2008.