50x15 Team Hosts First Africa Partner Summit

When AMD launched the 50x15 Initiative in 2004, the company knew that the success of the program would largely depend on cooperation and teamwork from a broad range of collaborators across the globe. Over the past four years, the 50x15 Initiative has fostered digital inclusion through innovations and technologies to the communities who need it most. But there is still a great deal of work to be done.

That is why on June 3, 2008 AMD hosted the first 50x15 Africa Partner Summit in Cape Town, South Africa. As a part of its continued effort to facilitate the growth of the 50x15 Initiative, the two-day event brought together 50x15 partners to share knowledge to help bridge the digital divide. Participants focused on an array of topics which included utilizing innovative off-the-grid solutions to overcome power constraints and discussed progress made in overcoming obstacles in bringing digital inclusion to Africa. The event attracted more than 40 attendees across various organizations including Dell, Microsoft, The Clinton Foundation, Oprah’s Angel Network, Lenovo, Learnthings Africa, Telkom Foundation, Care International, as well as various government representatives.

Students at the Nelson Mandela High School in Gugulethu, South Africa, visually display their gratitude for the computer lab installed in 2007 by Nedbank and AMD’s 50x15 Initiative.

Dan Shine, vice president, 50x15 Initiative, opened the summit with an overview of the progress that has been made in the effort to connect 50 percent of the world to the Internet and computing capabilities by 2015. He touched on AMD’s successful international deployment of 50x15 Learning Labs, noting that countries such as Brazil, India, Bangladesh and Mexico all now have lab locations while Africa alone is now home to more than 20 labs. In addition to the launch success of these lab locations, Shine added that users have also been successful in developing innovative ways to generate funds to sustain their labs, including offering paid training programs to the community and charging nominal fees to use the computers.

In between remarks by McCoy and Ruiz, the 50x15 Partner Summit featured numerous speakers and panelists, including:

The summit continued with a Digital Inclusion Ecosystem panel of 50x15 partners, representing each of the seven areas of the ecosystem. This panel discussed how all ecosystem elements serve a critical role in establishing sustainable technology programs worldwide and agreed that this approach sets the 50x15 Initiative apart. Representatives on this panel provided expertise in a variety of areas, including: finance expert, Reabetsoe Motsepe, Nedbank Foundation; connectivity, Michael Fletcher, Telkom Foundation; content, Michelle Lissoos, Learnthings; power, Kristine Pearson, Freeplay Foundation; structure design, Cameron Sinclair, Architecture for Humanity; devices, Ian Jackson, Mustek and expertise, Kristin Peterson, Inveneo.

A colorful lunchtime keynote presentation was delivered by the Hon. Etienne Sinatambou, Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Mauritius. The Minister spoke about the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) in developing economic growth and job creation in Mauritius. His long-term goal is to position Mauritius as a strategic ICT hub and outsourcing destination, which will foster the need to develop a state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Day one of the summit concluded with an engaging and lively panel discussion about the role of government in ICT. Panelists included Ms. Kagiso Chikane, Director of Meraka Institute; Dr. Henry Chasia, Executive Deputy Chairperson of NEPAD E-Africa Commission and the Hon. Etienne Sinatambou. These panelists talked candidly about how to more effectively work with governments for long-term success and addressed the widespread challenges of funding and procuring appropriate systems and technology.

The second day of the summit kicked off with a press conference to announce the winner of the AMD Open Architecture Challenge, an international design competition to develop solutions for building sustainable, multi-purpose, low-cost technology facilities. The Global Studio LLC, an architectural team from Seattle, WA, was declared the winner by Cameron Sinclair and Dan Shine. The winning design will be built in Nairobi, Kenya, for Slums Information Development and Resource Centres (SIDAREC) and will include a community center, Internet café, public walk-up computers and a dedicated classroom for computer-based job skills.

Students at the Nelson Mandela High School perform a song and dance, thanking Nedbank and AMD’s 50x15 Initiative for the campus’s computer lab.

At the end of the summit, attendees visited the Nelson Mandela High School 50x15 Learning Lab in Gugulethu. This lab, funded by Nedbank, has been operational for over a year with minimal system downtime – a testament to the success of the learning lab program. The school’s choir greeted visitors with beautiful songs and students conducted demonstrations in the lab to show off their computer skills. Also in attendance at the school were several members of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders who spoke to students acknowledging their accomplishments and encouraging them to continue their studies.

After just one short year, the success of the Gugulethu learning lab is indisputable. Forty-three teachers and 1,100 students have learned to use the computers and are creating everything from music videos to simple databases. Test scores for many students have also showed improvement thanks to the curriculum software that is now available for math and science. “It was truly inspiring to see what a difference the lab has made in the lives of the students and how grateful they are to have the computers,” said Craig Dawson, 50x15 South Africa Program Manager.

Overall, the 50x15 Africa Partner Summit was an overwhelming success, bringing together global corporations, non-profits and government leaders for a common goal – to provide technology solutions to developing countries, catapulting them into the digital age.

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