SLL researchers in Italy
University of Fort Hare and Rhodes University recently sent two researchers, Sibukele Gumbo and Fortunate Gunzo for an enjoyable 6 weeks summer visit to Italy. This visit was part of the Marie Curie Actions International Staff Exchange Scheme project, ICT in Low Resource Settings: Innovating for Africa and Europe through Living Labs. Project collaborators include Fondazione Bruno Kessler(FBK, Italy), Fraunhofer FOKUS (Germany), Rhodes University and the University of Fort Hare.
In Italy, the researchers enjoyed the warm and generous hospitality by the ICT4G Unit in FBK, Trento. Together, a seminar entitled A Story of a South African Living Lab was organised and presented to members of the interlinked FBK and University of Trento communities. Subsequently, further discussions with people interested in ICT for Development occured.
On the 11th of March 2014, Siyakhula Living Lab's Sibukele Gumbo joined other established and emerging South African and Tanzanian Living Labs, and other ICT bodies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for a one day workshop entitled, “Living Lab workshop for co-creation and innovation between South Africa and Tanzania”. The event was jointly organised by Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), Living Labs in Southern Africa (LLISA) and CSIR Meraka (supported by the NRF).
Compliments of the New Season! May 2014 keep you healthy and happy, kind and generous, and also, offer you success and happiness ;-)
The 2013 Eastern Cape ICT summit was hosted from the 5th -7th November, at the East London International Conference Centre. Mobile Applications was the theme and focus this year. The event was graced by dignitaries such as the Eastern Cape MEC – Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr. Mlibo Qoboshiyane, SITA’s Freedom Nomvalo and Mr. Andile Ngcaba from Dimension Data, amongst others. Prof Alfredo Terzoli, one of the 23 speakers, and accompanied to the event by Prof Mamello Thinyane, Ms Nyalleng Moorosi, Ms Mathe Maema and Ms Sibukele Gumbo.
If you weren’t able to make it to the Siyakhula Living Lab celebrations in April, please click 
This year, the prestigious Southern African Telecommunications Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) conference was hosted at Stellenbosch's Spier Estate in the Western Cape. SATNAC is the flagship conference for the 16 Telkom Centres of Excellence hosted in Computer Science and Engineering Departments at universities around the country. The 3 day conference was held from the 1st - 4th of Sept 2013.
The awards recognize achievers in the ICT field who operate in the Eastern Cape, and was a well deserved accolade for Sibukele, for the work that she does for the Siyakhula Living Lab, with the highest professionalism but also with imagination, dedication and pragmatism. Over the years, her role has been key to the life of the SLL, while contributing to the scholarly knowledge onLiving Labs, through academic papers presented at national and international conferences.
This year, the IST-Africa Conference and Exhibition was hosted at the Safari Park Hotel, in Nairobi, Kenya on the 29th to the 31st of May 2013. The event, which was the 8th of its series, and was attended by approximately 400 delegates, mainly from Africa and Europe. It featured 11 exhibition stands and 45 Parallel Sessions with representatives from public, private, education and research organisations in 40 countries (22 African and 18 European).
On behalf the Siyakhula Living Lab rural communities and university researchers, I would like to humbly thank the presence of attendees from national, provincial and local government, industry, academia and other entities, at the celebration in Dwesa. The huge turnout, support and vibrancy (in the rain and cold) meant quite a lot to us.
It is our pleasure to invite you to the Siyakhula Living Lab celebration now finally confirmed for the 18th of April 2013, in Dwesa, in the former Transkei of the Eastern Cape. The