"Our theme this year is 'Making Vision Reality,' which reflects the African Union's 2063 Vision of a transformed continent," says Rebecca Stromeyer, the organiser of eLearning Africa, the Continent's biggest learning and technology event. "Egypt’s Biblioteca Alexandrina is a magnificent example of how an ambitious vision has been transformed into an extraordinary, state-of-the-art reality. I'm delighted that the person responsible for it will be with us for the conference. What his colleagues and he have achieved is really remarkable, and it shows the enormous potential of the African continent as it embraces learning and technology."

The Biblioteca Alexandrina, which has “shelf space” for over eight million books, aims to "provide universal access to human knowledge." It acts as a mirror and an external back-up for the Internet Archive and is the repository of ten billion web pages, covering the years 1996 - 2001.

Ms Stromeyer said that people in other countries too often focus their attention on negative stories about Africa and fail to see the really positive changes that are taking place. 

"The real story about libraries, archives, and culture is not about the mindless destruction by fanatics of manuscripts in Timbuktu three years ago; it is about how, all over Africa, an exciting vision for a transformed continent is now being turned into reality. The Biblioteca Alexandrina is a world-class facility that shows what is possible. The process of turning vision into reality is happening across Africa in education and training. Technology is transforming learning, and this year's eLearning Africa will provide a showcase for a wide variety of new products, facilities, systems, and solutions created by Africans."

Other keynote speakers at eLearning Africa will include Thierry Zomahoun, President and CEO of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences; Tarek Shawki, Dean of the School of Engineering of the American University in Cairo; Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, CEO of the RISE Group, a social-enterprise network that promotes technology and educational development; and Toby Shapshak, a renowned commentator on African innovation, who is writing a book about how African solutions to problems benefit the whole world. 

The Conference, which will be preceded by the annual eLearning Africa Ministerial Roundtable, will feature workshops, panel discussions, knowledge exchanges, applied practice sessions, discussions, a learning cafe, and the annual conference debate. Among hundreds of topics for discussion this year are emerging learning technologies; telecommunications and accessibility; localisation and languages; professional development; and improving opportunities for young people.