About AIS'21
The Africa Internet Summit (AIS) is an annual, regional, multi-stakeholder ICT conference. It is the pinnacle educational and business ICT event in Africa where key players in the Internet industry can interact with the global Internet community. Launched in The Gambia in 2012, the Summit consists of seminars, workshops, tutorials, conference sessions, birds-of-a-feather (BOFs), and other forums for sharing ICT knowledge within the African region.
The Summit aims to bring the ICT business and technical community in Africa together under one roof to discuss ICT issues and challenges.
The African Internet community, drawn from academia, public and private sectors, technical organisations, governmental institutions and civil society, interact on Internet issues and Internet development in general. Our audience benefits from various panels of international experts who deliver insightful knowledge of ICT technologies.
The range of topics spans mobile networking, applications, cybersecurity, cyber laws, Internet governance, ICT for development, research, civil and information society issues, and African ICT success stories.
This is an open platform for everyone. Join your peers as well as business and technical leaders for the Africa Internet Summit - the place for sharing knowledge and networking within the Africa ICT community.
Click here to view AIS'21 Concept Note ( English -|- French )
Background Note
Background Note
1. What strategies can be used to drive IPv6 Deployment throughout the continent?
ISPs in Africa has to uptake IPv6 with IPv4 depletion impending, whereas this protocol offers a viable solution in supporting technologies such as IoT, IAAS, AI, VR and blockchains, that are shaping the future of our digital economy.
While IPv6 deployment is relatively simple from an engineering point of view, many businesses in Africa have yet to embark on the path of deploying IPv6. For the sustained growth of our digital space and economy, Governments, Businesses, ICT Regulators, and End Users have to get prepared for v6.
Speakers are invited to share valuable experience on strategies for deploying IPv6 strategies from their perspectives.
2. How Internet infrastructure can be improved and expanded to ensure low cost, resilient and secure Internet access and keep our content and traffic local?
In spite of the increasing availability of the Internet around the world, from the African continent, Internet penetration represents less than 12% of the global population. If gaps persist between those who access the Internet’s opportunities and those who do not, there is a risk of increased social and economic inequality.
This part of the conference will address initiatives that support universal and affordable access to the Internet.
Regional initiatives on issues relating to Internet access, cost, and security are addressed through presentations on topics such as peering, telecommunication infrastructure, connectivity and cybersecurity.
3. How to ensure affordable, always-on Internet access for all so that all African citizens can reach their potential?
To ensure sustainable growth of a stable, secure and robust Internet, it is vital that Governments, Civil and Technical societies along with all other stakeholders engage in dialogues and forums regarding the Internet, it's development and related issues on how the Internet should be managed.
Several governments continue to shut down the Internet, depriving citizens of their right to use the Internet to fulfil their potential.
4. What are the policies guiding Internet number resource distribution in Africa and how to ensure that all stakeholders participate in the Policy Development Process (PDP)?
Internet number resources such as IP addresses and Autonomous System Numbers (ASN) are important public resources that are vital for the continued growth and stability of the Internet. It is thus important that they are managed and distributed in a responsible and fair manner with policies acting as vehicles through which these objectives are attained.
Policies on Number Resource management are developed through an open process. Anyone is welcome to participate by joining public mailing lists and attending public policy meetings held by RIRs twice a year. Through these forums AFRINIC engages with everyone irrespective of geographical location, gender and race on issues not only concerning Number resource Management but also Internet access, affordability, governance and much more.
5. How to keep our networks safe from cyber attacks, DDoS and shutdowns?
Our cyberspace is prone to different types of cyberattacks such as phishing, spoofing, DDoS, BGP Hijacks, route leaks, and more.
Initiatives that speak on those benefits help in keeping our cyberspace safe and knowledge sharing is a crucial means to fight cybercrime. To this effect, AIS 21 will have a dedicated slot speaking about Initiatives that help keep our cyberspace safe through knowledge sharing as a crucial means to fight cybercrime, and adoption of Internet best practices such as BCP-38 (Applying Source Address Validation), BCP- 84, RPKI and DNSSEC deployment increases resiliency and security and eventually helps in keeping our network safe from attacks.
6. How to harness the power of the Internet to help end poverty and ensure prosperity for all?
With access to the Internet come improvements to education, health, society, industry, policy and human rights. Increasing Internet access also means that more investment in critical infrastructure is needed.
Related policies also need to be discussed, updated and put in place and cross-continent agreements need to be made. Crucially, Africa needs to ensure that every device now - and in the future - can be assigned its own unique IP address so it can connect and communicate to the global network and that Africa’s unconnected do not get left behind.
7. Why should we address the issue of the gender digital divide?
The digital gender divide needs to be resolved, as studies are beginning to show, when women are able to engage with Internet technology, a wide range of personal, family and community benefits become possible. There is no reason for women to trail behind in the digital transformation. The cost of inaction is high and in the face of sluggish growth, ageing societies and increasing educational attainment of young women, the economic case for digital gender equality is clear. Bridging the gender divide, also in the digital world, stands to provide new sources of global economic growth, support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and help achieve the G20 goal of strong, sustainable and inclusive growth.
