23rd August 2011, Kimberely,SOUTH AFRICA

INSPIRE Programme is holding Open Source Software conference on 23 August 2011. The summit, which is an annual event, will be held is be held in Kimberley, Northern Cape Province at the Kopano Conference Centre.

The conference forms part of the annual provincial open source focus month set to take place from 22 August – 16 September 2011. Various activities have been planned to raise awareness, build capacity and distribute open source material.

The objective of the Open Motion conference is to create an integrated, comprehensive and inclusive provincial open source framework. The conference is part of the Open Source Competency Centre to be established in the province. The purpose of the Summit is to demonstrate the work done so far and consult the broader open source software stakeholder community on the direction of the Open Source Competency Centre.

Advocating the use of Open Source Software is seen vital for the province and country at large in terms of affordable access, local content development and creating a market niche for local software development.

The INSPIRE Programme seeks to enhance the delivery and implementation of the Provincial Growth and Development plans for poverty alleviation in the Northern Cape using ICTs. Some of the primary development objectives of the co-operation that have been identified are:

• Promoting the growth, diversification and of the provincial economy; and
• Poverty reduction through social development

ICT@innovation Programme Coordinator has been invited by the Northern Cape Premier's Office to showcase and share knowledge on its actvities as the province seeks to expand its ICTs and infrastructure.

Speaking at the opening of the conference Mr. Monwabisi Nkompela of the Office of the Premier (Northern Cape),he encouraged the delegates to use this occasion to share and expand knowledge on this innovative ICT approach as the world is slowly becoming a knowledge-based economies

The programme of the conference and presentation is as follows:

23 Aug 2011
8:30	Tea & Registration
9:00	Mr. Monwabisi Nkompela Office of the Premier	Northern Cape Information Society & Open Source
9:15	Q&A
9:30	Mr. Seun Agedelu Institute of Chattered IT professionals	Creating jobs and developing the youth through open source software
9:55	Q&A
10:15	Mr. Mbombo Maleka e-Skills	Institute Open Source in the education and training sector
10:40	Q&A
11:00	Tea Break
11:20	Mr. Arnold Pietersen Flossnet	How we can use open source to create businesses
11:45	Q&A
12:05	Mr. George Nyambuya ICT@Innovation	Local economic opportunities in open source
12:30	Q&A
13:00	Lunch
14:00	Mr. James Njenga UWC	Open Source in Education and Training
14:25	Q&A
14:45	Mr. Rod Grewan Inspire	Open source Competency centre model
14:25	Q&A
14:45	Closure
15:00	Networking function Snacks and refreshments

Attachment	Size
Motion Conference_Kimberly 23 August 2011.ppt V 5.0.ppt	2.25 MB