Transcript ICT Potential for Development in Africa

Data, Digital assets and
Platforms for innovation
The World Conference on Intellectual Capital for Communities
UNESCO, July 12&13
“ICT Potential for Development in Africa”
Foster Ofosu
Capacity Development Specialist
African Development Bank Group
[email protected]
@fofosu
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Key Questions
• Why does Africa need to be innovative capacity?
• What is the landscape for Innovation and ICT in
Africa today?
• What are some of the opportunities Africa can
harness?
• What is the role of AfDB in leveraging ICT for
Development?
“Africa must get onboard… Right now! … Africa will be
either on to the Information Age or off to the dark
Agricultural Age … Africa is suffering from knowledge
apartheid that forces its children to eat the crumbs from
the dinner table of the information-affluent nations.” Philip Emeagwali, A Father of the Internet
(www.emeagwali.com)
The Landscape
1. The Mobile Continent?
Key Drivers
• Significant Infrastructure Development
• Increasing Fibre-optic cable connections to
households
• Spread of low cost smartphones and tablets
• Industry deregulation
• Public Sector involvement
• Demanding customers
1. The Mobile Continent?
Telecom companies have
added 316 million
subscribers since 2000
Technology-related
productivity gains 318
billion USD by 2026
Mobile penetration is
expected to increase
by 79% by 2020 with
mobile broadband
connections to reach
160 million by end of
2016
Broadband backbones have
been built which, coupled with
the innovations in mobile and
the presence of submarine
cables, has led to a major
uptake in data.
2. Rising TechHubs
We have 200 fragile young
organisations with noble
intentions but no clear path
to long-term survival.
Charting a sustainability
plan for entities we don’t
fully understand is no small
task – a sobering thought
to say the least,” Tayo
Akinyemi, director of
pan-African hubs
network AfriLabs
3. The App Economy
• ,
Or Is it all a hype?
Africa’s Young Techpreneurs
Movers and
Shakers
2016
But the story needs to be understood
“I think we need to change the narrative. People are
talking about bringing Silicon Valley to Africa. I am a
believer that rather than try to bring Silicon Valley to
Africa, let us bring Africa to Silicon Valley. I think it is
time we, as Africans become innovative; creative
solutions that we can take global rather than trying to
reinvent what has already been done”Ashish . J. Thakkar, Founder. MARA GROUP
The story needs to be understood.
• Urban areas are faring strongly
• But there is a growing risk of a digital divide as the
economics of data do not extend readily to rural
areas.
• Data devices, such as smartphones and computers,
are not cheap, coverage is expensive and many
operators are focused now more on their existing
customers (supplying them with value added
services) than on extending their reach
• Risk of young Africans focusing on the Apps
Industry
AfDB is Leveraging ICT for Development
Strategic Framework: Broad
Agreement
Continent’s Aspirations Versus Bank
Accountability
UNIVERSAL
ACCESS TO
ELECTRICITY
+162 GW electricity generated
+130 million on-grid connections
+75 million off-grid connections
AGRICULTURAL +300m people adequately fed
+100m people lifted out of poverty
TRANSFORMATIO +190m hectares with restored productivity
N
Industrial contribution to GDP increased by 130%
ECONOMIC
35 industry clusters supported
DIVERSIFICATION 30 PPPs developed & strengthened
REGIONAL
MARKETS
ACCESS TO
SOCIAL &
ECONOMIC
OPPORTUNITIE
S
Building regional infrastructure
Boosting intra-African trade & investment
Facilitating movement of people across borders
Creating 25 million jobs
Building critical skills
Improving access to water & sanitation
Strengthening health systems
The role of the AfDB
• Helping identify the main micro and macro-level
barriers affecting the successful deployment of ICT
in capacity development
• Identifying ways in which ICT can help improve the
delivery of capacity development for youth
entrepreneurship and employment
• Creating an environment in which various
stakeholders can collaborate to build innovative
capacity for development
ICT Infrastructure Infrastructure
• Rapid modernisation of Africa but also inclusive
communications.
• Financing to the creation of the Central Africa Backbone
• Extended funds to support skills development and the
adoption and application of ICT services within
• Supporting Technology Parks
– financed digital technology parks in Senegal and
Cape Verde and have been approached to fund others
(Ethiopia, Congo-B, Zambia)
• Submarine cable connectivity - multiple cable systems
landing all around the African coast is strong and we see
the advent of virtual landing stations providing landlocked countries with direct negotiated access to the
cables.
TODAY AT AFDB
Building Skills and Capacity
• The eInstitute
– Distance and
eLearning
• Innopitch
– AfDB
Intrapreneurship
Initiative
• iYes
– Innovation and Youth
Entrepreneurship
Support Programme
African Development Bank
The vision of the e-Institute is to be the lead
platform for distance learning and eLearning in
Africa for generating and sharing knowledge for
capacity building.
Ready for the third wave?
Innovation and ICT
Minding the Gap
Innovative
Financing
Market
Innovations
Technological
Innovations
Innovation
System
Linkages
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