Hello people..Kicking off the week with the 411 about the upcoming Africa Science Week!!
About the African Science Week | Next Einstein Forum
The Next Einstein Forum’s (NEF) Africa Science Week (ASW) will be Africa’s annual week long celebration of science and technology with thousands of individuals – from students, to scientists to technologists – actively engaging in coordinated science events across the continent throughout June 2017. ASW wants to encourage citizens to get involved, participate in the NEF’s 1mil1 campaign and become interested in science and technology, and how it impacts their daily lives. For this maiden edition, the NEF’s ASW will be held in 13 countries: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania.
Led by NEF Ambassadors, this signature program is designed for many age groups and provides an opportunity for citizens to engage in everyday science. The program is designed to instill a curiosity of learning and interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) pursuits among the public and allows young Africans, especially women and girls, to become excellent scientists and technologists.
NEF Ambassadors will work with local partners both in the academic and private sector to make it a success.
African Science Week Cameroon June 27th – 20th 2017
There are over 200 Institutions of Higher Learning that purport to offer tracks for students interested in pursuing careers in STEM in Cameroon with the majority of these students attending public schools. According to the recently concluded World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an investment in Science, Technology, Research and Innovation is poised to be a game changer for the entire continent of Africa. There have been several Public and Private initiatives aimed at turning Cameroon into a major ICT hub in Africa. Sadly like in most African countries, unemployment is still at an all-time high due to corruption, bad governance, political instability, and sheer greed. Many young people have had their hopes shattered after realizing that they could come out of school with excellent degrees and still roam the streets with no job. This has forced many along a path of self-learning and mastery like the 17 year old Nji Collins Gbah whom despite the internet ban certain regions were facing in the country, managed to defeat 1,229 other contestants in order to emerge as the first African to ever with the Google Code-In challenge. This earned him a trip to the prestigious Googleplex in Silicon Valley and a Twitter shoutout from the CEO of Google Sundar Pichai (and may be a possible future role at Google). The future of work is global and distributed and therefore the importance of Science, Technology and Innovation at this point in the country’s history cannot be overemphasized. We believe that this is what will deliver the future we desire to live in.
NEF Ambassador
Arreytambe Tabot is the Founder and CEO of the EduTeens Science Development Foundation, a nonprofit organization which works to improve student achievement, enhance teacher effectiveness and overall school quality through the implementation of technology-led initiatives. Prior to this, he was the Deputy Head of Department for Computer Science at the Nigerian Turkish Nile University where he served in volunteer roles as Android Student Club Facilitator, Google Computer Science First Advocate and capped it all by winning the highly competitive Google Computer Science for High Schools grant (one of the only four African Universities that won it globally that year). He was a former Google Student Ambassador, and now serves as an Ambassador for the Next Einstein Forum, and an Ambassador for Global Education at A World at School.
He was selected in 2016 as one of the Young Global Leaders to join the White House Emerging Global Leaders-Atlas Corps Fellowship program in the United States. He is currently serving as a Senior Software Engineer with Affinis Labs, a Virginia-based Social Enterprise where he builds digital platforms for community development. He is an alumnus of the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Program class of 2016. He most recently served as the UNESCO delegate representing Cameroon at the UNESCO Week for Peace and Sustainable Education in Ottawa, Canada.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Physics with a minor in Computer Science from the University of Buea in Cameroon, and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja in Nigeria. He is currently rounding off his PhD in Computer Science at the same University where he was an African Development Bank scholar. He is a frequent speaker on various platforms Nationally and Internationally.
Events
● Tech Meetup: Gathering of industry leaders and some of the country’s finest tech entrepreneurs for a time for networking, forward thinking, and bonding. Sessions will include panel discussions, presentations, pitch sessions and networking. In attendance will also be representatives from Academia.
● Women in STEM: Digital Literacy, Web and Mobile development training for Women. This is geared towards empowering women and girls to start, lead and grow tech companies and thus increase their visibility in this mostly male dominated fields.
● Ignite Talks: 5 minute presentations by for-profit company representatives, researchers and social entrepreneurs on the work they are doing towards creating sustainable communities.
● Hackathons: 8 hours code sprints during which teams of developers will be required to come up with a viable for profit or non-profit idea that will be judged by a panel constituted of entrepreneurs and potential investors during the Tech Meetup. Free food will be provided throughout so that they don’t have to leave the arena.
Dates
Tuesday 27 June 2017 (Official Launch of the African Science Week in Cameroon)
Time: 8am to 6pm
Venue: Chariot Hotel, Buea
Tuesday 27 June 2017 (Hackathon)
Time: 8am to 4pm
Venues:
Douala: Activspaces, Immeuble TECNO, Boulevard de la Liberté, Douala, Cameroon.
Yaoundé: NexGen Technology Center, P.O Box 30936, Besides Victor Hugo, Nsimeyong Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Buea: Activspaces, First Trust Building, Great Soppo, Buea, South West Region, Cameroon.
Limbe: TBA (To Be Announced)
Registration for Hackathon
(Please read the instructions carefully)
https://goo.gl/forms/7VR1Vvx5H64ucRvN2
Wednesday 28 June 2017 (Women in STEM event)
Time: 8am to 5pm
Venues:
Douala: Activspaces, Immeuble TECNO, Boulevard de la Liberté, Douala, Cameroon.
Yaoundé: NexGen Technology Center, P.O Box 30936, Besides Victor Hugo, Nsimeyong Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Buea: Activspaces, First Trust Building, Great Soppo, Buea, South West Region, Cameroon.
Registration link for Women in STEM event
https://goo.gl/forms/XIWsEiNBL9hdm4Pj2
Thursday 29 June 2017 (Tech Meetup)
Time: 3pm to 9pm
Venue: Chariot Hotel, Buea
Friday 30 June 2017
TV interview
For any inquiries, please send an email to aswcameroon@gmail.com and visit http://nef.org/asw/ for more information about the African Science Week.
Join the STEM movement and be part of Africa Science week.
Looking forward to it already.
Happy Monday.
Y.M.
IRepCamer
