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The label transcription and imaging of specimens in key African herbaria has been ongoing since the early 2000s. Many collections in Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea Conakry, and Togo are now fully transcribed and partially digitized. More than 200 000 transcribed specimens are available with the following distribution:Benin: 45 000Cameroon: 70 000Côte d'Ivoire: 18 000Gabon: 70 000Guinea Conakry: 5 000Togo: 15 000In April 2021, a BID project was started to deliver a regional data platform of West and Central African herbaria. Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) is a multi-year programme funded by the European Union and led by GBIF with the aim of enhancing capacity for effective mobilization and use of biodiversity data in research and policy in the 'ACP' nations of sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Our project's funding runs from April 2021 to April 2023.At this stage of the project, we are working on defining the information technology (IT) architecture (Fig. 1) and selecting the tools that we will be using to achieve our goals. In the talk, we will present our conclusions through architecture schemas and tools demonstrations.Each of the 6 countries will have its own PostgreSQL database, storing its data. They will also have access to the RIHA data management platform (Réseau Informatique des Herbiers d'Afrique / Digital Network of African Herbaria). This is a web application, developed in PHP, allowing full management of the data by herbarium administrators (Fig. 2).An Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) will fetch these herbaria data from the databases, create the Darwin Core archives, and connect these data automatically to gbif.org on a periodic basis (Fig. 3).On the databases, we will use a PostgreSQL view to ease conversion from the RIHA data model to the Darwin Core model. On the IPT, we will create one dataset per country, linked to each PostgreSQL view. The SQL query will be configured to only fetch validated data, depending on the herbarium administrator's ...

BLOCKMARKET (Blockchain system for optimizing traceability in operations associated with e-commerce in the retail sector) is a project funded by the Valencian Institute for Business Competitiveness (IVACE) and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). The general objective of this project is the development and validation of blockchain technologies for online sales activities in the retail sector. To this end, a solution to increase transparency in monitoring products and ensure Incorruptibility of information exchanged between the various agents involved in the operation is designed. This document contains the manuals associated with the different modules and components of the BLOCKMARKET platform. ; BLOCKMARKET. Project funded by the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (IVACE) and European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), within the public grant program adressed to Technological Institutes of the Valencian Community for the development of non-economic R&D projects carried out in cooperation with companies during 2019 with 164.790,50€. File number: IMDEEA/2019/108.

The label transcription and imaging of specimens in key African herbaria has been ongoing since the early 2000s. Many collections in Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea Conakry, and Togo are now fully transcribed and partially digitized. More than 200 000 transcribed specimens are available with the following distribution:Benin: 45 000Cameroon: 70 000Côte d'Ivoire: 18 000Gabon: 70 000Guinea Conakry: 5 000Togo: 15 000In April 2021, a BID project was started to deliver a regional data platform of West and Central African herbaria. Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) is a multi-year programme funded by the European Union and led by GBIF with the aim of enhancing capacity for effective mobilization and use of biodiversity data in research and policy in the 'ACP' nations of sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Our project's funding runs from April 2021 to April 2023.At this stage of the project, we are working on defining the information technology (IT) architecture (Fig. 1) and selecting the tools that we will be using to achieve our goals. In the talk, we will present our conclusions through architecture schemas and tools demonstrations.Each of the 6 countries will have its own PostgreSQL database, storing its data. They will also have access to the RIHA data management platform (Réseau Informatique des Herbiers d'Afrique / Digital Network of African Herbaria). This is a web application, developed in PHP, allowing full management of the data by herbarium administrators (Fig. 2).An Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) will fetch these herbaria data from the databases, create the Darwin Core archives, and connect these data automatically to gbif.org on a periodic basis (Fig. 3).On the databases, we will use a PostgreSQL view to ease conversion from the RIHA data model to the Darwin Core model. On the IPT, we will create one dataset per country, linked to each PostgreSQL view. The SQL query will be configured to only fetch validated data, depending on the herbarium administrator's validation in the RIHA platform.The automatic and periodic data transmission to gbif.org is a feature available in the IPT, and recently improved by the GBIF France team, which contributes to the IPT development.Another part of the automatic data workflow will be to feed a Living Atlases portal for the West and Central African herbaria. This web application will allow public users to search, display and download herbaria data from West and Central Africa (Fig. 4).Internally, this Living Atlases application will reuse open source modules developed by the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA). The application is mainly written in Java, uses JQuery/Bootstrap for the interface and relies on SolR and Spark in the backend. It has been developed to be easily reusable, by only modifying configuration and doing web customization (HTML / CSS), hiding most of the backend technological complexity.The automatic data workflow will transfer datasets generated by the IPT, in Darwin Core Archive format, to the Living Atlases portal backend. A technical task orchestrator, yet to be selected, will implement this feature.Living Atlases subportals, limited to data of one participating country, could be easily set up, leveraging the existing backend resources (Fig. 5).One of the benefits of the Living Atlases portal is that we can easily deploy additional front end applications with limited data, configured by a filter (here, a filter on the data owner country). Only configuration and web customization (HTML / CSS) are required. All the backend modules, especially the ones storing data, are shared by the multiple front-ends, limiting the hardware consumption and data administration.The full automation of the workflow will allow this platform to run at a very low maintenance cost for IT administrators. Moreover, adding a new herbarium member from West and Central Africa will be quite easy thanks to the architecture of the Integrated Publishing Toolkit and Living Atlases tools (Fig. 6).

"This book addresses the issues raised by digital platforms in the Global South, with an emphasis on the cultural stakes involved. It brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers - including political economists, socio-economists, geographers, media sociologists or anthropologists - who each explore these issues through an insightful case study at a local, national, regional or international scale. While studying the strategies of some of the main US-based Big Tech platforms or video streaming platforms towards the Global South, the chapters also consider the often-neglected active role local or regional actors play in the expansion of those Western digital players, and highlight the existence of a constellation of local or regional platforms that have emerged in Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Middle East. In addition to analysing the complex relationships of competition, collaboration or dependence between these diverse actors, this volume examines the ways in which the rise of these digital platforms has generated new forms of cultural entrepreneurship and participated in the reconfiguring of the conditions in which cultural contents are produced and circulated in the Global South. This volume will be of interest to readers interested in the transnationalisation of cultural industries or in the social, political, economic, cultural and geopolitical dimensions of digital transformations and will be an important resource for students, teachers and researchers in media, communication, cultural studies, international relations and area studies programmes"--

Rapid globalization has led to increased flows of capital, services, ideas, information and people between countries. As such, problems and challenges that face one nation often have a rippling impact throughout the region and globally. The growing list of cross-border issues cannot be resolved by isolated policy action at the national or sub-national levels. It is essential to forge strategic alliances at the regional level which support the development of consolidated approaches through regional platforms for dialogue and action.This book discusses regional governance mechanisms and institut

In the region of Southeast Europe (SEE) the obligation to establish and maintain information systems for nature conservation is scarcely mentioned in national legislation and is not adequately covered in legislative documents. Therefore, there is a great need for a more detailed regional policy paper that consists of a set of measures and a template of regulation. A set of measures was proposed and agreed upon among Biodiversity Information Management and Reporting (BIMR)* Regional Platform members and prepared in a way to be feasible, clear, resourceful and adjusted to the national circumstances, thus easier to implement. The regulation tackles all information system aspects in order to improve reporting processes towards the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, https://www.cbd.int/mechanisms) and other relevant conventions (e.g., exchange and provisioning of the data, access and usage rights, technical and functional requirements/standards, compliance with relevant international standards and European Union (EU) directives such as EU INSPIRE Directive (Infrastructure for spatial information in Europe, https://inspire.ec.europa.eu), Birds (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/birdsdirective/index_en.htm) and Habitats Directive (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/habitatsdirective/index_en.htm). Capacities and skills of BIMR Regional Platform partner institutions are utilized while other available policy and strategic documents are used for emphasizing BIMR priorities in BIMR policy paper. Stakeholders have an opportunity to express national data gaps and needs through a questionnaire where BIMR priorities are selected at the regional level and presented in a proposed set of measures and regulation. Consultative meetings of the BIMR Regional Platform are used for drafting and preparing the document in a form to be ready for endorsement. The BIMR policy paper will be delivered to the Biodiversity Taskforce (BD TF ...

The Open Balkans initiative primarily is focused on the cooperation within the economic framework between participating actors. But, bearing in mind reached declarations between Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia related to the cooperation in the fields of security, there are no doubts that this initiative also could provide a contribution in the regional security infrastructure, at this moment between participating states, but later also within the whole Western Balkans region. Leading research question of this paper is whether Open Balkans, as an initiative with pre-dominant economic sign, could also contribute in the process of creation regional security sustainability from the contemporary security threats angle. From the theoretical point of view, contribution of this paper is foreseen in the context of analysis how much regional cooperation in the field of security could contribute in wider security infrastructure. Primarily the research would be focused on the so-called soft-threats, which do not include "traditional" security threats such as territorial integrity, possibilities of foreign aggression, as well as traditional ways of war.

https://qute.ctic.es/ QUTE is built on top of ISAAC, a supercomputer funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, and the Principality of Asturias, Spain, through the Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación 2018-2022.

"Looking back at the conclusions of Lyndon Terracini's Platform Paper in 2007, A Regional State of Mind, Lindy Hume finds a restless giant. Through towns and communities she traces the rise of a more assertive, even radical ambition. a rebellious counter-urban movement ready to make a profound impact on the national culture. As an artist living in regional Australia, she finds it an ideal place to develop new performance work, and argues that more flow and greater integration between the regional and metropolitan arts ecosystems could, over time, reshape Australia's cultural identity" -- Publisher website

The "Uberisation" of work - the increasing use of digital platforms by self-employed service providers – is often seen as a pathway into precarious employment in rich countries. In Africa, quite the opposite may be true: the rise of digital platforms offers new opportunities for informal entrepreneurs to become more productive, and eventually formalise.
Digitalisation in Africa is happening on a scale and at a pace that many would not have anticipated. Digital platforms - such as Uber, Airbnb, and local varieties - are spreading. At the same time, most African economies are characterised by the pervasive informality of firms and employment.
Informality is high because formalisation does not pay for firms. Digitalisation is likely to affect both the costs and benefits of formalising. Digital platforms can increase firm and worker productivity, for example through better market access, and they also provide an entry point for formalising firms.
The Uberisation - and formalisation - of employment could be beneficial to the many African self-employed. Anecdotal evidence suggests that self-employed drivers registered on a digital platform, for example, have higher earnings than "conventional" taxi ones. Customers can benefit from better services and lower prices, and governments can raise their capacity to generate tax revenue using information from online platforms and digital transactions.
Overall, the positive effects of digital platforms seem to outweigh the negative ones. At the same time, adjustment costs - as evident in the protests by established taxi drivers witnessed in many countries - need to be addressed and mitigated.
There is very limited empirical evidence on the effects of digitalisation in general, and of digital platforms in particular, in Africa. Such research is urgently needed to harness the potential of new technologies for inclusive economic development. Digital platforms can contribute to formalising economies and improving tax collection in Africa. Smart policies and regulation need to achieve these ends without inhibiting innovation and technology adoption.