Platinum Sponsors
The Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology is a government ministry of Botswana. It was established in 2004 and has a mandate to provide leadership in science and technology in Botswana through the provision of an enabling policy and legislation environment and coordination of science and technology activities in the country.
ASSAf is the official national Academy of Science of South Africa and represents the country in the international community of science academies. Since its inception, ASSAf has grown from a small, emergent organisation to a well-established academy.
Diamond Sponsors
BoFiNet is a wholesale provider of national and international telecommunication infrastructure. Core to BoFiNet’s mandate is to provide and operate a world class telecommunications backbone network infrastructure which will drive connectivity and economic growth. BoFiNet services all licensed telco Operators both Nationally and Internationally.Great efforts have been expended in deploying the national backbone infrastructure to increase network coverage across the country, thereby increasing the number of localities connected to the national backbone fibre backbone network. In line with the broader goals of universal access fund, BoFiNet has also made strides in the provision of Public-Wholesale Wi-Fi and Events Wi-Fi in strategic areas such as hospitals, shopping malls, select sporting arenas, Government enclaves and airports across the country. As a result of this, internet uptake has increased nationwide.
Virtual Business Network Services is Botswana’s leading provider of premium end to end ICT solutions for the Enterprise market. VBN mainly serves small, medium and large businesses with internet, email security, enterprise network support, corporate WIFI, backup for laptops/ PCs and servers, email hosting and high speed connectivity between branches and suppliers.
Wellcome is a global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive. We support scientists and researchers, take on big problems, fuel imaginations, and spark debate. Our funding supports over 14,000 people in more than 70 countries – helping thousands of curious, passionate people all over the world explore ideas in science, population health, medical innovation, the humanities and social sciences and public engagement.
For many years, Wellcome has been a leading advocate and champion of research data sharing and open access to research publications. As a research funder, we believe that the outputs of the research should be available to access and re-use in ways that will maximise their value to health and society. Given our passionate support for open research, together with our long term commitment to supporting research and capacity building in Africa, we are proud to support International Data Week 2018.
Gold Sponsors
The Cloudera Foundation works with organizations and institutions across the globe to harness the power of data to improve people’s lives and protect the planet. The Foundation is an independent private endowed foundation created by Cloudera, a software company headquartered in the Silicon Valley with offices in 30 countries. The company designs software and provides services to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights.
To realize its mission, the Cloudera Foundation provides technology, engineering and data science expertise as well as grant funding to support projects where a new or different use of large data sets will help achieve significant social and environmental impact. We are committed to strengthening the capacity to use data for good, and we are pleased to support the International Data Week 2018 in Botswana.
The University of Botswana was established on 1st July 1982 by an Act of Parliament. The University is closely involved in the national development process of Botswana. In this regard the special functions of the University are to engage in improving the quality and in expanding the quantity of the human resources needed for development, and to act as the repository of the collective knowledge and experience of the nation and the world.
Bronze Sponsors
Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) was established through the Communications Regulatory Authority Act, 2012 (CRA Act) on the 1st of April 2013 to regulate the communications sector in Botswana, comprising telecommunications, Internet and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), radio communications, broadcasting, postal services and related matters.
Botswana Innovation Hub is an innovative and networked organisation that promotes technology, entrepreneurship and commercialisation. It is under the Ministry of Tertiary Education Research Science and Technology with a Board of Directors from diverse disciplines to perform fiduciary duties for Botswana Innovation Hub. A company limited by guarantee to promote innovative ventures and Botswana Innovation Hub Properties to develop and manage the science and technology park and BIH Investments, a special purpose vehicle to attract commercially viable and technology related investments.The company focuses its activities and output on the following strategic areas; develop & manage Science & Technology Park, attract innovative companies and institutions, foster commercialization of innovations and technology transfer and contribute towards competiveness & national priorities. Botswana Innovation Hub supports start-ups and existing local companies as well as attracts international companies and institutions to develop and grow competitive technology driven and knowledge-based businesses.
Crossref is a not-for-profit association of about 2000 voting member publishers who represent 4300 societies and publishers, including both commercial and not-for-profit organizations.
Bringing the benefits of AI to everyone
At Google AI, we’re conducting research that advances the state-of-the-art in the field, applying AI to products and to new domains, and developing tools to ensure that everyone can access AI.
Hindawi is one of the world’s largest open access publishers, publishing about 18,000 articles a year across a diverse range of journals covering science, technology and medicine. They believe that science works best when research is open. This includes not just the articles written by researchers and the data underlying their findings, but the data, metadata and infrastructure for scholarly communication itself.
Hindawi provides an easily accessible way to download its entire corpus for Text & Data mining and was the first publisher to trial and implement ORCID identifiers for corresponding authors. The company introduced a data policy in 2018 which asks all authors to provide a statement about how the data underlying their findings can be accessed. Most recently, they have been working with the Collaborative Knowledge Foundation and eLife to create open source publishing tools, and with other industry partners, including AAAs and Wiley, to provide Open Access journals and services. Hindawi is a strong supporter of Open Science and as such is delighted to support International Data Week in 2018.
The ISC Regional Office for Africa (ISC ROA) endeavours to ensure that the voice of African scientists influence the international science agenda and that scientists from Africa are fully involved in international research programmes guided by regional priorities.
Joint Minds Consult (JMC) is an Education and Training think-tank that promotes research, training, knowledge development and management, and student support as key issues that enhance the development of the Human Resource in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and sub-Saharan Africa. JMC is a Botswana Qualifications Authority certified research and training institute.
Springer Nature believes publishing research data is as important as publishing research in journals and books. As a proactive partner to the research community, Springer Nature is pioneering new approaches to data sharing and open data. We’re committed to supporting researchers who want to take open approaches to their data, helping to make data sharing the new normal.
Other Sponsors
Ethiopian Airlines has been appointed and recognized as the official airline carrier for IDW participants who will be departing from any Ethiopian airline cities to Gaborone. Ethiopian Airlines will provide discounts as follows:
- – Business Class – 15% discount
- – Economy Class – 12% discount
- – These discounts do not apply to promotional fares.
The IDW Local Organizing Committee therefore recommends Ethiopian Airline services to all its affiliates and participants for their travel to and from Addis Ababa.
Visit their website at https://www.ethiopianairlines.com/AA/EN/event?key=Data-week-2018 and apply the promo code “IDW18”.
— Sponsorship Opportunties Still Available —
IDW sponsors have a unique opportunity to connect with a diverse audience, foster new collaborations and partnerships, and support the international data community.