Report Back on SAFIPA Conference

Roger Layton presented the XtownX Initiative at the SAFIPA Annual Conference in Pretoria on Wednesday, 19 October 2011. The presentation took the form of a simulated demonstration and attracted much interest from those that attended.

SAFIPA have provided some core funding to the XtownX Initiative, and this funding was usefully deployed in the development of our training programmes, and in providing training to a range of XtownX Researchers. With XtownX now being moved into a live environment, the focus is on deployment within the 600 towns we have identified, and many people we met at the conference have seen how they can integrate their projects with XtownX and we are exploring an additional 10 towns for deployment as a direct result of this conference.

The SAFIPA programme has now come to an end, and the final report was presented at the closing of the conference.

We look forward to working with many of the people that we met at the conference and in particular following up on integrating the work in our respective fields in helping rural communities gaining one step close to an Information Society.