IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

From South Juba to Entebbe, from Marrakesh to Accra, on the cusp of technology in Africa, the need for responsible AI development and ethical data practices has never been more pressing. As technology continues to advance and shape the global economy, Africa is taking steps toward positioning itself as a leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Investments and innovations in AI are on the rise across the continent, with a growing number of countries beginning to develop policies and strategies to harness the power of this transformative technology. Although only a few countries have officially adopted AI strategies and policies, many more are actively working towards defining their AI policies. As philosopher and economist Amartya Sen noted, ‘Development requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom that leave people with little choice and little opportunity of exercising their reasoned agency.’ By creating policies and fostering innovation in AI, African countries can empower their citizens to take advantage of the opportunities presented by this innovative technology and make meaningful contributions to their communities and the world at large.

This week, hundreds of activists, technologists and policymakers are gathered in Tunis for RightsCon—the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age. Among the items on the agenda will be a proposal for a Bill of Data Rights by our colleague Martin Tisné.

Ahead of this, it’s important to explore what this could mean in the African context, and how a Bill of Data Rights could help to prevent governments and corporations from overstepping their boundaries by articulating the rights and freedoms of people in digital spaces. This is vital given the accelerating pace of technology adoption across Africa, from mobile money, the digital economy and online entertainment options, to biometric registrations for digital identity systems and voters’ rolls.

African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy Dr Elham Ibrahim told journalists in Naivasha that the switch will allow African countries to reduce the current high poverty levels.

“One of the targets of the AU is for the continent to make the transition to a knowledge based society, so that all citizens have access to equal education and employment opportunities,” Ibrahim said during a workshop on Knowledge Society Development in Africa as part of the African Leadership in ICT Course (ALICT).

ICT Minister Chris Baryomunsi has called on African governments to move beyond policy rhetoric and take concrete steps toward implementing digital transformation initiatives that enhance transparency, service delivery, and regional collaboration.

The Digital Government Africa Summit has emphasized the urgent need for African countries to accelerate their digital transformation journey beyond policy discussions to tangible action.

While African countries may be celebrating increase in access to and the use of basic telephone services, the more advanced countries are increasing access to new technologies such as internet and broadband at such an exponential rate. Broadband is no doubt an accelerator of social and economic development in the modern world with its applications enabling and facilitating economic and social services such as Public Safety, National Security, Telemedicine, e-government, distance learning, utility applications etc.

This urging came from Bruno Lanvin,a representative of the World Bank, who made a presentation at the ICT Best Practices Forum for West and Central Africa. The forum was jointly sponsored by global software company, Microsoft and other agencies in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

An e-government project by an African country is entering the testing phase for biometric smart cards featuring technology jointly developed by Next Biometrics and information security company Softlock.

The biometric smart cards leverage large-area, flexible fingerprint sensors from Next and an operating system, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and biometric applets from Softlock. Softlock provides Tactilis with the operating system for its biometric cards.

Das Projekt "Broadband for Africa" besteht aus drei selbständigen, aber miteinander verbundenen Elementen. Ein Backbone-Unterseekabel für Ost- und Südafrika, ein landgestütztes Backbone-Netz für mehr als 20 Länder im sub-saharischen Afrika und lokale Zugangsmöglichkeiten über WiMax oder Telezentren.

Das Unternehmen Seacom verlegt gerade ein 17.000 km langes Glasfaserkabel vor der ostafrikanischen Küste. Über das Kabel werden mehrere afrikanische Küstenländer erstmals Breitbandanschlüsse bekommen.

Data centre co-location is on the upswing worldwide, says Bloomberg, with demand in the market set to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.7 percent between 2023 and 2030 to reach nearly $90 billion, according to the global media and financial data and analytics firm.

This upsurge can be attributed to several factors, including rising demand for over-the-top (OTT) media and video streaming services and the need to lower ICT infrastructure costs, as well as the emergence of technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), self-driven vehicles, cloud computing and robotics.

During the recently concluded African Union Summit held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, the agency appealed to African countries to focus on broadband networks as the transformational technology that will aid in the efficient use of energy, management of healthcare in poor, ageing and isolated population as well as the delivery of the best education to future generations.

While a Nigerian consortium is building a two-fibre link from Nigeria to Portugal, UhuruNet, a consortium that involves the special purpose vehicle established under Nepad, African telecommunication companies and other investors, is planning to piggyback another two-fibre link on it.

The advent of digital technologies, though more pervasive in some economies than others, continues to change many areas of human lives, administration, and modern society.

From smartphones and computers to other highly intelligent appliances, we can no longer deny that technology is the power behind the smart world we live in today.

Mobile phones could play a major part in improving healthcare in the world’s poorest countries, Africa's first mobile health summit heard yesterday in Cape Town.

The talks came as the World Health Organisation put out its mHealth report on the global use of mobile phone technology in healthcare.

There is a “fairly healthy groundswell of activity” in mobile-health initiatives, said the United Nations’ Misha Kay, working for the World Health Organisation (WHO).

There is a lot of talk about building smart cities and it is important that we at least fully understand what it is all about. Making a city “smart” is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanisation. More than half of the World’s population now lives in urban areas and this shift from a primarily rural to a primarily urban population is projected to continue for the next couple of decades. It is estimated that more than 80% of global GDP is generated in cities and urbanisation, if managed well, can contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth. It achieves this by addressing inequalities, increasing productivity, and promoting job creation, social well-being, citizen participation, innovation, and emerging ideas. As such there is a need for a radical change in thinking about the way cities and human settlements are planned, developed, governed, and managed. In the case of Africa, urbanisation is progressing rapidly. The continent’s rate of urbanisation soared from 15% in 1960 to 40% in 2010, and is projected to reach 60% in 2050. It is expected that urban populations in Africa will triple in the next 50 years.

An often overlooked aspect of the current electoral cycle in Sierra Leone is the use of biometric technology to capture thumb prints and facial features in the registration of voters.

The cable, which went live last week, is expected to stiffen competition in the provision of broadband services in the region, which is already serviced by three undersea cables including Teams, Seacom and EASSY (East Africa Submarine Cable System).

Cheaper broadband services are expected to improve East Africa's telecom sector as more countries move to implement e-governance, e-learning and e-health programs, which have been hindered by the region's insufficient broadband infrastructure and capacity. Africa's voice market is still growing but the growth curve is beginning to flatten, forcing operators and service providers to compete more aggressively in the data market.

Deng Li, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister, has announced China's proposals for the China-Africa Partnership Plan on Digital Innovation at the China-Africa Internet Development and Cooperation Forum.

A statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the forum, hosted by the Cyberspace Administration of China, was attended by ministerial-level officials from African countries and the African Union Commission in charge of digital and telecommunications affairs, diplomatic envoys to China, Chinese and African scholars and entrepreneurs.