This upcoming summit in Gaborone will focus on uniqueness, transformation and advances in technology for the benefit of education and research in Africa

AfricanBrains – part of The Brains Network – is holding Innovation Africa 2013 from 15-17 October in Gaborone, Botswana. The event is organised under the patronage of the Botswana Ministry of Education & Skills Development and continues AfricanBrains’ highly productive series of meetings-based summits with an unmatched track record in bringing government ministers and officials to join industry leaders in one-to-one meetings.

The purpose of the summit is to connect industry to government and civil society and it carries on the overall aspiration of AfricanBrains to fulfil the need and opportunity for greater public private partnership in education, science and research in sub-Saharan Africa.

The innovation featured within the summit will focus on uniqueness, transformation and the realisation of advances in technology for the benefit of education and research in Africa. Their last 3 summits in Amman, Cape Town and Victoria Falls attracted over 50 ministers and deputies along with over 200 government officials.

With reference to last year’s Innovation Africa 2012 in Cape Town, Geoff Naylor, General Sales Manager from John Wiley & Sons said: “Innovation Africa has afforded Wiley a perfect opportunity to meet with the key stakeholders and decision makers across many African countries within the education sector.” He continued, “It has also given us the opportunity to represent our diverse portfolio of print and digital solutions that many of the education ministries are interested in at many different levels.”

Martin Rist, HP’s Middle East & Africa Education Business Manager said of Innovation Africa 2012, “I haven’t been to many conferences that are so well organised in terms of networking.” He added, “I would certainly come again and recommend this conference to anybody else.”

It is the pre-scheduled face-to-face meetings that make participation essential and offer maximum return on the valuable time of the international delegates and partners.  Innovation Africa 2013 will include over 35 hosted roundtables. Prior to the start of the event all industry partners and delegates will have access to an online scheduling system to personally choose their preferred meetings and create their own agenda for the event.

On the pre-scheduled meetings, Peter Gray, Chairman & CEO of John Smith International,said:“Trying to get access to ministers and ministerial colleagues as you travel around Africa is extremely hard. This brings all those people into one room at one point in time and over the course of two days we’re able to access a set of meetings that we can’t do easily within a year of travelling around Africa.”

Hon. Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Botswana’s Minister for Education & Skills Development will make the opening welcome speech to Innovation Africa 2013. The morning agendas will be devoted entirely to Q & A panel discussions. The format will tackle key issues and ask tough questions of ministers and officials participating in the panels, with a strong focus on:

For more information please visit www.africanbrains.net/ia2013 To register your interest please visit www.africanbrains.net/ia2013/register or email events@africanbrains.org