The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a professional association with global membership has appointed Nigeria’s Chris Uwaje as Africa Chair for world forum on IoTs (Internet of Things)  2016 with the theme: “Internet of Things: Smart Innovation for Vibrant Ecosystem”

A statement released by Mr. Uwaje, a man more commonly addressed as the Oracle of ICT in Africa said the “IEEE-IoTs World Forum 2016 promises the assemblage of best brains and leaders in academia, innovation, corporate industry, technology business and government policy makers to discuss and map the way forward and codify future opportunities and benefits of Internet of Things and Everything (IoTs/IoE)”.

It is therefore imperative and strategic that Africa is represented and actively contributes to the outcome of proceedings – as she stands to benefit immensely from the conference. Pursuant to the deliberation and resolutions at the last meeting of the IEEE-WFIoT 2016 Organising Committee held on 9th March, 2016, Chris Uwaje (Nigeria) was appointed the Co-Chair for Publicity & Communications for Africa.

His mandate includes but not limited to promoting, propagating and advancing the aims and objective of the IEEE-World Forum on Internet of Things, but above all, to establish innovative programs of ensuring the participation and contribution of the ICT Industry leadership, government policy makers, IT Professionals and stakeholders in Africa, to accelerate the diffusion, application and domestication of the promise and opportunities of IoTs.

In order to achieve the quantum benefits from the emerging digital opportunity, Uwaje’s vision is to take charge of promoting and establishing the “Africa IoTs Pavilion” as strategic imperative for success at the WF-IoTs 2016 in the USA. The 2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT) – IoT: Smart Innovation for Vibrant Ecosystems is a unique event for industry leaders, academics and decision making government officials. IEEE WF-IOT 2016 will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, Virginia USA between 12-14 December, 2016.

This event is designed to examine key critical innovations across technologies which will alter the research and application space of the future. The Internet of Things envisions a highly networked future, where every object is integrated to interact with each other, allowing for communications between objects, as well as between humans and objects, which enables the control of intelligent systems in our daily lives. My appointment as Africa Chair –

“Publicity and Communications for the 3rd World Forum on IoTs 2016 is a great challenge. I therefore solicit your dynamic support to deliver my mandate of reaching out to 500 Africa Universities and 1000 IT Industry leaders/Players for submission of 2000 Papers for consideration. I am sure that a well-researched Paper from African Knowledge Network has the pedigree for final selection. This will put Nigeria and Africa in the IP forefront of IoTs the digital World. Below, please find the link for; CALL FOR PAPERS ON IoTs http://wfiot2016.ieee-wf-iot.org/call-for-papers/”, the statement said.

Uwaje is the immediate Past-President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) and Chairman of Mobile Software Solutions. As Chair – Publicity and Communications for Africa, Uwaje said he will rely on the professional expertise, position, capability and close relationship with the ICT industry,  Universities in Nigeria and Africa to champion this challenge – with particular reference to Africa’s needs and expectations.