EON Reality introduces Virtual Reality based learning Centre to South Africa, first in Africa

EON Reality, a Virtual Reality based knowledge transfer solution for industry, education, and edutainment, in partnership with the city of Tshwane announced the inauguration of EON Reality’s Tshwane Interactive Digital Centre (IDC).

 The IDC is a central part of Tshwane’s long term plan, Tshwane Vision 2055, to “break the cycle of generational poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment” as well as to enhance the local business and investment climate in South Africa’s capital city.

 With the global Augmented and Virtual Reality markets expected to reach 150 billion dollars, content creation has to expand to keep up with local and global consumer’s needs. The IDC will establish a local Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality ecosystem in Tshwane and its Entrepreneur School that will help to develop skilled local entrepreneurs.

“We’re extremely excited to partner with the City of Tshwane and build an IDC in South Africa,” said Dan Lejerskar, Chairman of EON Reality. “We fervently believe that knowledge is a human right and this aligns perfectly with Tshwane’s goal for greater income equality, creating jobs, and improving educational opportunities.”

Dave Lockwood, Director, Tshwane IDC says that, “virtual and augmented reality has huge potential across the whole of Africa, as a way to support, but also to transform how we learn complex subjects, such as vocational skills at college and maths and science at school. Language barriers, as well as low literacy levels, tend to reduce how we understand what is being said and taught. By showing a concept, in a way that we can also play with it means that we can “see” what is been taught, hence, we can understand it better and also remember it much longer.

Not only will the IDC enhance the local business climate and create jobs, the content and applications created by the Tshwane IDC will help with vocational skills transfer and improve local STEM education. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality applications improve education and successfully address the issues of illiteracy and language barriers by showing rather than telling. This hands on educational approach helps all students perform better in the classroom by making learning more engaging, improving retention, and building experiences to be recalled rather than memorising facts.

“Virtual Reality based knowledge transfer will be crucial to the future of education in South Africa, particularly in Tshwane. As a Capital City, Tshwane is often confronted with difficult policy choices given the limited financial resources and competing service delivery needs. To this end, the City has taken a policy position to prioritise investments linked to education and development of young people. This explains our quest for state of the art technologies that assists the City to ignite excellence when delivering services. The Interactive Digital Centre will propel vocational skills training and development to unprecedented levels in South Africa,” concludes Dumisani Otumile, Group Chief Information Officer for the City of Tshwane.

Read More

Rwanda actively engaging in telemedicine ahead of other african nations

Telemedicine is a form of electronic health that involves the use of telecommunication and information technologies to provide clinical healthcare from a distance.

In an enclosed room at Rwanda Military Hospital in Kanombe, students listen attentively to instructions from a video interaction. This is part of their medical training, a session that allows them to interface with senior health professionals from top countries around the world. However, this practice is not entirely limited to teaching future doctors. On the opposite side of this hospital building, medics gather in a conference room to discuss sophisticated cases with other doctors from different hospitals who have more knowledge on the issues.

This is telemedicine; a trend of offering medical services that started as early as 2011 at Rwanda Military Hospital. The aim of this new approach was to improve student training and consequently medical service delivery through regular consultation of experts on advanced medical cases.

"Everyone is involved nowadays; it is part of the medical practice. Medical students follow the training in real time but the technology applies even in medical procedures. You could be having a patient here in Rwanda but get guidance from other countries," says Dr Pacifique Mugenzi, the head of research and education at Rwanda Military Hospital.

Dr Mugenzi, who is also a trained oncologist, adds that at least once a week, doctors at the hospital meet to discuss complicated cases with other doctors, eventually deriving useful solutions.

"We have discussed surgical cases, gynaecological cases and I recall a liver case where we deliberated about its management. Many issues are involved in these discussions but most of them revolve around surgery," adds Dr Mugenzi.

Unlike the ordinary practice that requires patients to interface with doctors face-to-face, barriers of access to medical services such as long distance are not involved in telemedicine, meaning that medical services that would be unavailable in some distant communities can be provided.

Dr Mugenzi adds that currently the Rwanda Military Hospital is using telemedicine to train undergraduate and post-graduate doctors from the country to solve the problem of distance and travel costs required for physical presence.

Read More

African Union to launch electronic passport at next Summit

Addis Ababa — The African Union (AU) is prepared to launch the electronic passport (e-Passport) at the next AU Summit due to take place in July this year in Kigali, Rwanda.

The first group of beneficiaries will include: AU Heads of State and Government; Ministers of Foreign Affairs; and the Permanent Representatives of AU Member States based at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, according to an AU statement Tuesday.

The AU e-Passports will be issued to them in July at the 27th AU Summit in Kigali, revealed the statement.


Issuance of the e-passport is expected to pave the way for the Member States to adopt and ratify the necessary Protocols and Legislation with the view to begin issuing the much expected African passport, it added.

The initiative, first agreed upon in 2014, falls squarely within the framework of Africa's Agenda 2063, and has the specific aim of facilitating free movement of persons, goods and services around the continent so as to foster intra-Africa trade, integration and socio-economic development, according to the statement.

Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, called the initiative a "steady step toward the objective of creating a strong, prosperous and integrated Africa, driven by its own citizens and capable of taking its rightful place on the world stage."

Read More

Makerere University expands research to Energy

Makerere University has opened an East African Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency as part of efforts to increase research and innovation in alternative energy sources in the region.

The initiative is supported by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and the Austrian Development Agency.

Uganda recently launched two innovative energy efficient projects, the solar-powered Kayoola bus and the Kiira EV car.

"The centre is mandated to contribute to increased access to modern, affordable and reliable energy services," said Irene Muloni, Uganda's Minister for Energy and Minerals, at the launch of the centre at Makerere University in Kampala.

The increasing threat of global warming is fostering more innovation and investment in cleaner energy alternatives for lighting and transport systems. It is this investment potential that the centre is hoping to tap into.

Innovations and competition have driven down energy costs, as solar photo cells and wind energy are now among the cheapest electricity sources in many countries.

While much attention has been paid to Uganda's prospects of becoming a mass producer of solar-powered buses, the launch of the Kayoola bus has thrust the country into the limelight, with Kiira Motors Corporation saying their product could spur more innovations in the energy industry.

Uganda is keen on promoting the use of solar as it seeks to expand rural electrification. While much emphasis has been given to undertaking huge hydro projects, the government is starting to prioritise solar power projects.

Solar power is not a new concept in the country as a number of households with no connection to the electricity grid have opted to install solar panels on top of their houses for their power needs.

Other renewable energy sources include bio-mass, wind energy, geothermal and hydropower.

Read More