World Wide Web Consortium Launches Office In Senegal

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http://www.w3.org/ -- 26 May 2009 -- The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is proud to announce the launch of its first W3C Office in West Africa: the W3C Senegal Office will be hosted by the Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique (ESP), attached to the UCAD (Université Cheikh Anta Diop), in Dakar, Senegal. With this first French-speaking office, W3C looks forward to increasing interaction with the French-speaking community, especially neighboring countries in Africa. The opening ceremony will be held on 27 May 2009, as part of the eLearning Africa conference program.

Senegal IT Bets On Innovation

According to a recent OSIRIS report, only 6.1% of people in Senegal have Internet access. However, signs do indicate a trend towards increased IT availability, in part due to increased demand from institutes of higher education in the country.

In Africa, and particularly in Senegal, a number of IT sectors are showing strong growth, including e-commerce solutions, telecommunications, e-banking, CRM, mobile Internet, network integration, and Web application development. Senegal's strength in the Internet and mobile sectors will also help the country narrow the digital divide. W3C has been involved in the past few years (through Workshops and Interest Groups) in how mobile technology can foster economic development in this sort of emerging market.

Senegal Office Host Brings Regional Expertise to W3C

The Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique (ESP), host of the new W3C Senegal Office, is a renowned engineering school whose primary goals are to provide higher education in preparation for the functions of supervision in production and services; to conduct research activities aimed at continuous improvement, adaptation and participation in scientific and technological developments; and to carry out expert evaluations for public and private enterprise. The W3C Senegal Office will be managed jointly by Ibrahima Ngom, Project leader, from Department of Computer Science of ESP and Alex Corenthin, head of ISOC Senegal.

The launch of the W3C Senegal Office is part of the Digital World Forum project (European Union's 7th Research Framework Programme - FP7) which seeks to understand how low-cost technologies can help bridge the digital divide.

About W3C Offices

As its Members work to realize the full potential of the Web, W3C collaborates with regional organizations wishing to further W3C’s mission. The W3C Offices assist with promotion efforts in local languages, help broaden W3C’s geographical base, and encourage international participation in W3C Activities. W3C has Offices in: Australia; the Benelux countries; Brazil; China; Finland; Germany and Austria; Greece; Hungary; India; Israel; Italy; Korea; Morocco; Senegal; Southern Africa; Spain; Sweden; and the United Kingdom and Ireland.

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Nearly 400 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France, Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/

 

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