The 15^th annual ICT conference dubbed Staying Ahead: Leap-Frogging the World through ICT took place on 5^th and 6^th September, 2014 at the Strathmore University Auditorium. This year’s conference theme was inspired by Kenya’s leading role as an ICT innovation hub with a worldwide reputation of capitalizing on ICT, to improve business processes and empower citizens. The conference was organized by the Faculty of Information Technology.

 

Academic researchers and telecommunication information technology students from institutions of higher learning, young professionals and industry experts in public and private sectors came together for this conference. In a vibrant and informative way, this participants took time to showcase their ongoing research and projects.

 

Various topics such as; Telecommunications Regulation and Policy, Network Security and Cyber Security, Intelligent systems, Smart Cities, Mobile and Wireless Network Management, Mobile Applications and ICT for Development, Open Source Technology and Cloud Computing and Next Generation Networks were discussed.

 

The highlights of the conference involved academicians and other researchers showcasing their research findings, while invited speakers and industrial experts held a forum underlining candidly their varied experiences. For some international industrial experts, sessions of video conferencing took place allowing the experts to demonstrate their projects in the comfort of their offices. We had an expert from USA presenting one project named, the 21^st Century Classroom and two experts from Germany and Norway presenting a joint project named Video-conferencing Systems and Technologies. Papers such as Security Analysis and Evaluation Methods for Ubiquitous Sensor Networks we presented and Mobile Apps such as Mobile based HIV patient Identification for Antiretroviral Drugs Dispensing were introduced.

 

The keynote speakers included; Prof. David Some on behalf of Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi, CS Education, Victor Kyalo – CEO ICT Authority, Prof. Olayele Adelakun – DePaul University, USA, Nik Nesbitt – General Manager, IBM in Africa and Dr. Michael Adeyeye, Melbourne Australia.

 

Over the years the University and faculty have achieved numerous outcomes as a result of the conferences. These achievements include;

• Establishment of linkages between the university and the industry
• Broad dissemination of research outcomes to stakeholders in the ICT sector
• Provided facts and statistics that help better understanding of the market and industry
• Idea exchange and feedback generation from reliable experts
• Showcased latest technology and mobile innovations out of Strathmore
• Established an ICT research center known as @iLabAfrica
• Established an incubator for nurturing young technology companies known as @iBiz
• Better alignment of Strathmore ICT curriculums with industry expectations
• Better/greater awareness of ICT issues and importance to the Economy

Posters by young researchers were on display throughout the period of the Conference showcasing the research work and/or ICT Projects that were innovative enough and had potential for market implementation or incubation ready business ideas. The posters were grouped into specific sub-themes of the ICT Conference.