The 1^st Meeting of the Joint Experts Group of the Africa-EU Partnership 8 (JEG8) within the Action Plan II (2011-2013) of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 8 and 10-11 May 2012, to take stock of recent developments in the Africa-EU Partnership 8 (P8) dedicated to the priority on Science, Information Society and Space, to debate the P8 cross-cutting issues and to prepare future work. The meeting included on the 8th of May, in parallel tracks, a Space/GMES and Africa Workshop and an IST-Africa Living Lab Thematic Working Group Meeting. This JEG8 meeting was organized back-to-back with the IST Africa 2012 Conference held on 9-11 May (see also the IST-Africa 2012 Conference Report).

• Involved more than 100 participants from 42 countries, 22 African and 20 European;
• Stressed by European Commission (EC) that this so highly participated JEG8 meeting can provide a boost in momentum to the Africa-EU P8 activities, and noted that this meeting shows Africa-EU P8 is alive and active and participation of Member States (MS) is much higher and active than in Action Plan I;
• Pointed out by African Union Commission (AUC) the relevance of keeping the momentum and the importance of the JEG8;
• Expressed by Tanzania commitment to the conclusions of the Lisbon Summit of 2007;
• Underlined the irreplaceable role of S&T in international cooperation as the bedrock for enabling cooperation in other areas, given its central importance in a globalized knowledge-based economy and its special strategic interest for both regions;
• Emphasized that the ultimate goals of Africa-EU P8 should be centred on people and that S&T cooperation is made of strong relationships of trust and confidence and a clear bottom-up approach;
• Underlined that FP7 has provided opportunities of collaboration and funding for African Partners at a much higher level than for other major external cooperation regions, namely more than 800 participations of African organizations in R&D projects and more than 120 M€ for African organizations;
• Stressed the importance of involving the African Regional Economic Communities (RECs);
• Mentioned the need for more frequent meetings of AMCOST and its Bureau;
• Informed that a “Space Platform” is being set up at the AUC to coordinate the actions of different departments;
• Questioned how MS can feel comfortable to additionally contribute through the Partnership, as some are contributing a lot parallel to it;
• Underlined the creation of a new post of Research and Innovation Counsellor in the EU Delegation to the African Union in Addis Ababa;
• Mentioned the importance of maintaining the role of bilateral cooperation;
• Stressed the urgency of secretarial support for the JEG8 and the corresponding African and EU Expert Groups;
• Stressed the need of a systematic mapping of initiatives related to Africa-EU P8;
• Mentioned a variety of projects and processes, such as: 19 “Lighthouse Projects”, High Level Policy Dialogue on S&T, African Union Research Grants, S&T II Programme of the ACP – Africa Caribbean and Pacific Research for Sustainable Development, Science Prizes for Africa, FP7 Africa Call, ERAfrica, INCO-Net CAAST-Net – Coordination and Advancement of Sub-Saharan Africa-EU S&T Cooperation Network, PAERIP – Promoting African-European Research Infrastructure Partnerships, France-Germany-Africa Coordinated Call for Sub-Sahara Africa, France-Brazil-Africa coordinated call being planned, ERAfrica Call planned for the beginning of 2013 with funding from Africa and Europe Member States (MS), AfricaConnect project to establish a high-capacity Internet network for research and education in Southern and Eastern Africa, AXIS – AfricanInternet Exchange System, HIPSSA – Harmonization of the ICT Policies in Sub-Sahara Africa, African Virtual Campus, ALICT – African Leadership in ICT, Living Labs in Africa, IST Africa, EuroAfrica P8, GMES and Africa– Global Monitoring for Environment and Securityand Africa, BRAGMA – Bridging Actions for GMES and Africa, AMESD – African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development, MESA – Monitoring of the Environment for Security in Africa, DesertWatch, EAMNet – Europe-Africa Marine EO Network, GARNET-E – GMES for Africa Regional Network for Information Exchange and Training in Emergencies, MALAREO – Earth Observation (EO) in Malaria Vector Control and Management, REDDAF – Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Africa: Improved Forest Monitoring Services in Developing Countries, REDDINESS – Support EO-driven forest and carbon monitoring in Central Africa for REDD – Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, TIGER II related to sustainable water use, flooding patterns, water quality monitoring, sedimentation modeling, groundwater resource assessment, hydrological and environmental aspects of wetlands and climate change impacts, among many others, WATPLAN – Spatial Earth Observation Monitoring for Planning and Water Allocation in the International Incomati Basin;
• Mentioned a variety of areas and topics, such as: Post-Harvest and Agriculture, Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Water and Sanitation, Health, Agriculture, Food Safety/Security, Biotechnology, Environment, Desertification, Water Management, Marine and Coastal Areas, Long Term Management of Natural Resources, ICT, Energy, Applied Mathematics/Computer Science, Innovative SMEs;
• Suggested the addition of new topics to the Africa-EU P8 agenda: France suggested the consideration of a feasibility study on S&T based PMEs incubators; South Africa suggested adding Radio Astronomy; the AUC suggested adding: (1) Analog-digital TV switchover process and the corresponding digital dividend; (2) e-Post and the use of the Post System for e-commerce in delivery of goods and identity accreditation related to e-payment and e-credit; (3) Creation of a Body of African Regulators of Electronic Communications (the AUC is supposed to take the lead on the preparation of written contributions on these 3 themes, to be done jointly with the EC and involving MS before considering them at a next JEG8 meeting);
•  Endorsed 7 proposals proposed by the three Africa-EU components to be submitted to the “fast track” of the new JAES support mechanism, namely:
  1. (1) Urgent secretarial and organizational support for JEG8 and African and European Expert Groups meetings while no other mechanism for such support is put in place (JEG8, presented by Science component);
  2. (2) Mapping and roadmap study regarding the Science component of Action Plan II (Science);
  3. (3) Feasibility study on the extension of the AfricaConnect project to other African countries (Information Society);
  4. (4) Feasibility study on a Living Labs programme for Africa (Information Society);
  5. (5) Workshop of GMES and Africa on Marine and Coastal Areas, in Mombasa, Kenya, 25-27 Jul 2012 (Space);
  6. (6) Workshop of GMES and Africa on Water Management, in Abuja, Nigeria, Sep 2012 (Space);
  7. (7) Workshop of GMES and Africa on Long Term Management of Natural Resources, in Cairo, Egypt, Sep/Oct 2012 (Space).

• Decided next JEG8 meeting in Cape Town, South Africa on 6-8 Nov 2012, followed by a JEG8 meeting in Brussels on Jan-Feb 2013;
• Decided also a JEG8 meeting to be organized together with EuroAfrica P8 in Africa on Oct-Nov 2013, possibly in Cairo, and mentioned the probable need of a JEG8 meeting by mid-2013 with the approach of the 4^th EU-Africa Summit.