From smartphones to cargo drones, how technology is shaping African
countries now more than ever. These 10 trends show how innovation can
ripple through societies and boost economies, leapfrogging them into the
future.
African tech innovation startups: also check out the call for DEMO Africa 2015!
1. Droneports
Because connectivity defines modern prosperity, and because Africa will
not be able to build roads fast enough to manage its growth, the
continent will be the first to adopt
cargo drones at massive scale.
But drones need somewhere to land. So in 2015 we will see the first
concepts for droneports out of Africa. They will be clean-energy, open
to sky and nature, and mix the civic quality of early Victorian railway
stations with souks and the latest airport technology – in other words,
the petrol station of the 21st century.
2. Robotics
It’s not just flying robots that hold economic promise for Africa. The
Ebola outbreak in West Africa has reinforced the lessons of Fukushima.
In the kind of emergency where it’s dangerous for humans to be in
contact with one another, robotics can help to screen for radiation or
for infectious disease. Currently, there are not enough advanced robots
to do the remote tasks we need them to do. It might seem
counterintuitive to promote robotics in the context of high youth
unemployment and pervasive poverty. But African economies will engineer
efficiencies through automation that they would otherwise not be able to
afford. Look to the
Africa Robotics Network
and research universities inside and outside Africa, which will spread
robotics beyond humanitarian use into the production of robots. In
particular, there will be more research into robotics for healthcare and
search-and-rescue functions.
3. Space
The
Square Kilometre Array
(SKA) astronomy project in South Africa’s Kalahari desert promises to
massively advance space science in Africa. The SKA’s goal is to map the
early universe using radio telescopes, and the first phase of the
project is capped at $740 million. The necessary computing architecture
will be among most advanced on the planet. SKA will eventually produce
more data than the rest of the world’s astronomy projects combined. In
2015, we will also see private space initiatives, including the South
African investor Elon Musk’s
Space X
begin consideration of private launch sites in Africa, ahead of the
many rocket launches expected to take place before NASA sends humans to
Mars in 2035. Located on the equator and with plenty of space, Africa
has the potential to be a major player in space exploration.
4. Translation
Voyager I has entered interstellar space. Fastened to it is a gold disc
with the sounds of Earth recorded on it. Among them is a greeting in the
Chewa language of central and southern Africa: “How are you, people of
other planets?” Google Translate is now available in 10 African
languages. However, Translators Without Borders points out that Africa
has 2,000 languages. Only 242 of these are used in the media and just 63
are used in the judicial systems. That means the poorest and most
vulnerable Africans struggle to make themselves understood. Creating
living dictionaries for hundreds more African languages will be a
significant undertaking in 2015, not just for heavyweights such as
Google and IBM’s Project Watson, but for start-ups, too. It is cheap and
profitable: Babel has never looked so promising in Africa.
A Seeker 400 drone, manufactured by South African company Denel Dynamics, flies over Cape Town
5. Tech spaces
Tshimologong Pre cinct is a
technology accelerator of Wits University in Johannesburg, which has the
backing of companies such as IBM and Microsoft. As much as 40% of South
Africa’s GDP is generated within a short drive of Tshimologong and many
students live in the area, so reorienting the precinct around
technology makes sense. Similarly, in Kenya, the Gearbox makerspace for
design and rapid prototyping will move into the railway district in
downtown Nairobi. The year 2015 will see similar initiatives from Dakar
to Durban as city planners, property developers and technologists
realize they can work together to produce jobs and vitality.
6. Augmented reality
This year is ideal for augmented reality to hit the market in Africa,
and now is the time to start planning for it. How might an African
second life, visited by commuters on crowded minibuses, differ from
augmented realities in industrialized countries?
7. Wearable technologies
Wearables are not a cheap consumer product for most people, but in 2015
we will see them gain market share through cheap smart watches and
health trackers. That will subtly challenge present behaviour for
wealthier early adopters. Will 2,000 steps a day suffice for African
city-dwellers? Will cholesterol tracking influence food choices?
8. Wi-fi
A study by iPass, an American wi-fi provider, suggests that
wi-fi hotspots will proliferate on the planet.
It predicts that in 2018 there will be a wi-fi beacon for every 20
people on Earth and one beacon for every 400 Africans. So, the year 2015
will see a more concerted push towards spreading wi-fi more equitably
around Africa. Sub-orbital satellites using solar sailplane technology
will close financing. These great and graceful craft always aloft in the
stratosphere will usefully compete with high-altitude “loons”,
white-space radio frequency and low-tech stratospheric repeaters. A
related activity will be to make the most of the available bandwidth by
installing the best available spam filters.
9. Smartphones again
The migration from dumb phones to smartphones is so obvious a trend that it can often be overlooked, but
new guesstimates form Cisco
underline the extent of the coming change. In South Africa, Cisco says,
internet usage will grow from 710 megabytes a month to 7.2 gigabytes in
2019. Most of this will be on newly purchased smartphones and their
related devices, such as wearables and augmented reality. And where
South Africa goes, the larger African economies follow.
10. Futurism
The year 2015 will see
a move towards futurism
among African intellectuals, with avant-garde artists and writers
anticipating Africa’s forthcoming acceleration in their works. Concepts
will include new technologies, the loss of wildlife species, the
creation of cities and the longer view of transhumanism and interstellar
travel. Wider discussions about technology will take place. A good
example is South African film director Neill Blomkamp and his latest
blockbuster, Chappie, set in Johannesburg: “Humanity’s last hope is not
human.”
This article originally appeared at the World Economic Forum website.
Author: Jonathan Ledgard is Director of a future Africa initiative at EPFL
and a long-time Africa correspondent at the Economist. He leads a group
that is building the world’s first droneport – in Africa. His last
novel, Submergence, was a New York Times Book of the Year and is being
adapted for the big screen.
Tech innovation startups in Africa: also check out the call for DEMO Africa 2015!
Image courtesy of Apple
