Sustainable Capacity Building in Software Engineering Research in Africa

Abstract

The software industry is a key engine of economic growth in Africa, which calls for sustainable and innovative approaches to build capacities in software engineering research and education for the continent. This paper presents the BRIGHT project as an example for a collaboration that aims to build such capacity. The collaboration includes institutions in Sweden and Uganda. The goal of the collaboration is to train faculty in software en- gineering and to build a supporting research environment, which includes the creation of networks with the software engineering community at a global scale as well as connecting academia and the local software industry. So far, the project has resulted in 50 publications, a software engineering research centre, software engineering summer schools, and conferences.