On Friday, January 26th of 2018 the 10th meeting of the project ‘eCoInnovateIT - Sustainable Consumption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the Digital Societ’ took place at the Leuphana University in Lüneburg. Together, the participants discussed their joint research strategy with the common goal to find a sustainable way of consuming information and communication technology.  The interdisciplinary team comprises researchers from the Universities in Oldenburg, Osnabrück and Lüneburg and covers a broad spectrum of research backgrounds such as social sciences, information systems, psychology, sustainability management, innovation research and marketing.

Further information: www.ecoinnovateit.de

On February 6th and 7th, 2018, the regular research project meeting of NEMo (in German for ‘Sustainable satisfaction of mobility demands in rural regions’) took place. The partners met at the Leuphana University Lüneburg. During the two-day project meeting, the participants exchanged views on the current project progress and the upcoming work packages. In the middle were, among other things, the mobility platform and the next steps regarding the NEMo app. The NEMo app aims to contribute to making mobility in rural areas more sustainable. Representatives of the Leuphana University Lüneburg, the TU Braunschweig and the University of Oldenburg belong to the interdisciplinary consortium of NEMo. The next NEMo project meetig will take place again in Lüneburg at the end of June 2018.

More information on www.nemo-mobilitaet.de

The German Society for International Cooperation GIZ visited the Computing Science department VLBA at Oldenburg University. The GIZ develops solutions to challenging problems and provides international cooperation services for sustainable development and international education work, supporting the German Government in achieving their set objectives. Dr. Karola Hahn and Dr. Bernd Multhaup are in charge of CENIT@EA on behalf of the GIZ and came to visit Oldenburg from 23 to 24 February.

In the context of their visit, related international research projects of the Computing Science VLBA were introduced, which gave input to the work of CENIT@EA. Next to presentations about research projects of the department, institutional centres introduced themselves. A visit to the associated institute OFFIS was, for example, part of the program. Discussions and knowledge exchange allowed the entire team to plan ahead, with the development of the curricula as the next critical milestone.

One of the presenters, Christian Osorio, has been assigned as project manager at Oldenburg University for CENIT@EA. He works at the department of Computing Science since 2004 and has gained relevant work experience in international research projects. Next to CENIT@EA, he is managing, along with two South African partner institutions, Nelson Mandela University and University of Cape Town, the project Hub for Education on ICT for Sustainability. Together with Julia-Katharina Franke and Prof. Dr. Jorge Marx Gómez, Christian Osorio will be responsible for the project CENIT@EA at Oldenburg University.

The annual project meeting of the DEMIS team took place in Oldenburg on February 12. The focus was primarily on aspects of project management and the scheduling of upcoming research stays in Mozambique, Tanzania and Germany. The participation on the BUIS-Tage 2018 was also coordinated.

On March 8^th 2018 visited Christian Osorio and Julia Franke, as part of the CENIT@EA Uni Oldenburg Team, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), funding partner of the CENIT@EA project, at the Gustav-Stresemann-Institute in Bonn. The representatives of the DAAD in this meeting were Lars Gerold, Dorothee Weyler, Simon Cremer and Klaudia van Eyk.

This gathering was planned in order to get to know each other, but also to discuss subjects regarding the structure and management of CENIT@EA. The most important topics addressed were:

• Steering Joint Committee Meeting in Arusha, Tansania (March 19^th 2018)
• Academia Public-Private Partnership Forum and Exhibition in Nairobi, Kenya (March 21^st -22^nd 2018)
• Organizational Plan of the GIZ
• Annual Requirement Plan and Finances related topics
• Indicators Catalog and Annual Report

The meeting was a total success and both parts, the CENIT@EA Oldenburg Team and the DAAD, are excited about the future cooperation in this outstanding academic project.

From 6 to 9 March, the Multikonferenz Wirtschaftsinformatik (multi-conference Business Informatics) 2018 took place in the central building of the Leuphana University Lüneburg. The main theme of this year's MKWI was "Data-driven X - Turning Data into Value". VLBA employees Volkan Gizli, Alexander Sandau, Stefan Wunderlich, Benjamin Dietrich and Safwan Sulaiman as well as students Marcel Saager and Patrick Baber attended the conference. The VLBA representatives gave presentations on the following topics: Increasing the efficiency of data centers, user-centered value-added services to differentiate automobile manufacturers, block-chain technology in the energy market, and sustainable mobility and energy monitoring. 

On March 19^th  2018 the project manager of CENIT@EA from the Oldenburg University (UOL), Christian Osorio, and the representatives from the DAAD, Lars Gerold and Simon Cremer, and GIZ, Karola Hahn and Bernd Multhaup visited the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in order to join the 1^st Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting. Representatives of NM-AIST, the Inter University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) and the East African Community (EAC) also were part of the JSC session. The chairman of this gathering was Prof. Dr. Alexandre Lyambabaje, executive secretary of IUCEA. The committee discussed topics related to the management and steering of CENIT@EA.

Furthermore, from March 21^st to 22^nd   2018, the 6^th Academia-Public-Private Partnership Forum and Exhibition (APPPF) took place at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. This event intended to enable the academia, the public and the private sectors to display the practical aspects of their operations, products, services and achievements as a way of enhancing linkages between the academia, the public and the private sectors in promoting industrialization in the East African region. DAAD, GIZ, UOL and NM-AIST representatives also made part of this event by presenting the CENIT@EA project to the assistants. Bernd Multhaup, together with Godfrey Uromcamu from Imprint (U) Ltd., gave a presentation to the APPPF title Landscape Mapping Overview of the private sector and academia in EAC with focus on ICT.

The final meeting of the project ‘Sustainable Consumption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the Digital Society’ took place on the 16th of April 2018 at the University of Osnabrück. During the meeting, the final status reports were presented and the final results from the different work packages were discussed. Furthermore, the final report and the practical guide of the project were discussed and possible follow-up research projects were suggested. The participants of the interdisciplinary consortium include representatives of the University of Oldenburg, the University of Osnabrück and the University of Lüneburg.

Further information: www.ecoinnovateit.de

The International Academic Conference on Economics and Business took place in Beirut (Lebanon) from 3 - 6 May 2018, at which Prof. Dr. Jorge Marx Gómez was invited as guest speaker on the topic of blockchain technologies in the energy sector.

The VLBA welcomes Louise Greyling (ARTOMBO project), who will be visiting the University of Oldenburg until the end of May 2018 as a visiting lecturer and researcher. The stay is supported by the International Relations Office Mrs Birgit Bruns of the University of Oldenburg.

On 29^th and 30^th May 2018 the CENIT@EA UOL  and NM-AIST team gathered together with representatives of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Hochschule Mannheim, the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) at the University of Oldenburg for the 1^st Coordination Meeting of this academic project.

This event was scheduled in order to discuss and review the following topics:

• Curricula Status (Master program Embedded and Mobile Systems)
• Allocation of teaching staff at NM-AIST
• Student recruitment
• Rules and regulations for internships
• Development of close cooperation withthe private and public sector in East Africa
• Official launch of CENIT@EA

The meeting resulted in a very successful and motivating outcome. We are now looking forward to the 2^nd Coordination Meeting which will take place in Arusha, Tanzania.

On May 22 and 23, the second workshop of our collaborative project Hub for Education on ICT for Sustainability (HEdIS) took place at Oldenburg University. Every year, we develop module curricula that we test in a Summer School at our South African partner universities. The topics that we will cover over the four-year project runtime are Water & Waste Management, Mobility and Energy Efficiency, as well as Education on Sustainability. This year’s topic is Sustainability Entrepreneurship in the frame of ICT.

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On 22 June 2018 Pilar Sánchez Gómez (research assistant at UAB) defended her PhD thesis at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Prof. Marx Gómez was invited to act as the external evaluator. Congratulations to Pilar.

In the frame of a Bachelor study programme evaluation in „Software Engineering“ Prof. Marx Gómez visited from 4-8 June 2018 Mauritius University to act as external evaluator.

The penultimate project meeting and doctoral colloquium took place in Oldenburg on May 26 and May 28, 2018. Saturday was dedicated to our doctoral students. All candidates from Ghana and Mozambique presented their research topics in detail and received a lot of feedback. The project meeting focused on the upcoming final meeting.

Information technology solutions and approaches can make important contributions towards the development of smart cities and regions. The sustainable development of such structures is not limited to individual aspects - the interaction is crucial. Empower Generations aims to manage decentralized energy generation more intelligently. The focus lies on modern data-based and decentralized technologies. The NEMo (German acronym for “Sustainable satisfaction of mobility demands in rural regions”) project focuses on mobility provision in rural areas and develops sustainable and innovative mobility services and business models based on them.