ICT Initiatives and Research Capacity in Mauritiusist-africa.org/home/files/ICTResearch_Mauritius_IST-Africa.pdf · • National ICT Strategy Plan 2007 – 2011 (124 programmes)

Session 3e, 27 October 2010 eChallenges e-2010 Copyright 2010 IST Africa

ICT Initiatives and Research Capacity in Mauritius

Mr. Jayprakash HEERALAULNational Computer Board

Mauritius


Agenda

• Mauritius

• National Computer Board

• Brief ICT Status

• Some important ICT Initiatives

• ICT Research & Initiatives


Mauritius

• Mauritius – an island south west in the indian ocean• Language: English and French• +4 GMT• Highest adult literacy rate for the whole of Africa• Young workforce, 29.2% being aged less than 30 and

business spirited, innovative thinking and open to the world


National Computer Board

• Para-statal body under the aegis of Ministry of ICT• The NCB is the apex organisation in Mauritius responsible

for the development and promotion of the ICT sector• Objectives & Strategies of the NCB

o E-Powering People by spreading ICT Culture and Literacy and promoting ICT for Social Development

o E-Powering the Public Sector by participating in eGovernment(www.gov.mu) initiatives, setting up e-Services and managing the Government Online Centre (GOC)

o E-Powering Businesses by facilitating the development of the ICT industry and promoting entrepreneurship in ICT

• www.ncb.mu


Brief Overview of ICT Status in Mauritius

• Vision for the ICT Sector– Transform Mauritius into a Cyber Island– Make ICT an important engine of economic growth– Transform Mauritius into a Regional ICT Hub

• More than 600 ICT Companies (BPO - >300, ITES, web-enabled services, training, hardware assembly and sales, networking, consultancy, multimedia development, disaster recovery (DR) and other support services)

• Major International Players (Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, HP, CISCO, Orange Business Services, Accenture, Infosys, Hinduja Group, France Telecom, Ceridien, the TNT Group)

• Contribution of 5.8 % to GDP in 2009• Turnover generated in 2009 in MRU Rs 29 billion (MRU Rs 31 is approx USD 1)

• National ICT Strategy Plan 2007 – 2011 (124 programmes) www.nictsp.mu


Brief Overview of ICT Status in Mauritius

• State-of-the–art technology and hi-tech business parks in Mauritius (Cyber City – Cyber tower 1 & 2, Trade and Marketing Centre, Informatics Park, Forthcoming Rose business parks)

• Telecommunications sector was liberalised at the end of 2002• Connectivity (via satellite and through the South Africa Far East (SAFE)

submarine cable providing high bandwidth international connectivity, Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), presently under construction, will connect Mauritius and countries of Eastern Africa via a high bandwidth fibre optic cable system to the rest of the world, Lower Indian Ocean (LION) submarine fibre cable system links Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion Island)

• Political stability• Sound legal framework (telecomit.gov.mu)


Some important ICT Initiatives

• Universal ICT Education Programme (UIEP)• Community Empowerment Programme (CEP)• Public Internet Access Points (PIAPs)• Cyber Caravan Project• Government Online Centre (www.gov.mu) and e-Services• National Internet Exchange Point (NIXP)• National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-

MU) http://www.cert-mu.org.mu• ICT Incubator Centre• eID Cards• One laptop per child• www.ncb.mu


Research Institutions

• Mauritius Research Council– http://www.mrc.org.mu/

• University of Mauritius– http://www.uom.ac.mu/

• University of Technology, Mauritius– http://www.utm.ac.mu/


ICT Research Initiatives

• Mauritius Research Council

– Adaptive Coding Techniques for Time Varying Channels– Developing successful entry strategies for BPO operations in

Mauritius– Electronic Commerce tools and methodology using web-based

technologies– Evaluation of the importance of corporate e-learning in providing a

competitive edge to Mauritian companies – Information and Communications Technology Thematic Working

Group– IT Security– MU-CERT



• University of Mauritius

– Bioinformatics– Efficient Computing– IPv6– Context awareness– Intelligent systems– Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing



• University of Technology, Mauritius– Implementation of a USSD API– Impact of broadband on the Mauritian economy– Digital Propagation models for Mauritius– Optimisation of mobile applications protocols– A technology independent framework for partitioning & retracting context

awareness applications in pervasive environments– IP traceback– IS outsourcing for SIDS– Data mining using agent technology in distributed systems– Web Caching algorithms for highly customizable portals– ERP for SMEs– Learning difficulties in geometry– Web pages optimal search– Mobile power optimization– Mathlab tool development on options


Contact Details

Thanking you for your attention

Mr. Jayprakash HeeralaulNational Computer Board, [email protected]

www.ncb.mu

Documents

ICT Initiatives and Research Capacity in Mauritiusist-africa.org/home/files/ICTResearch_Mauritius_IST-Africa.pdf · • National ICT Strategy Plan 2007 – 2011 (124 programmes)