This week the 27th installment of the Africa Tech Festival did two things, one highlights the shift forward for most businesses and two confirm a solid reality of AI being solidly entrenched into almost every incoming device of the future.
Cape Town was riddled with attendees who all came with the potent question of what the future looked like for South Africa technologically.
Around the #AfricaTechFestival2024 In 6 seconds #AfricaCom#AfricaTechFestival #TheAIsummit @Meta @Accenture @Huawei @HuaweiEnt @HuaweiZA @orange @Orange_Egypt @cnbcafrica pic.twitter.com/M1YkcVJO3h
— TheBoardmemberGlobal (@BoardmemberGlo) November 12, 2024
While forums like the Ministerial Forum 2024, supported by Huawei and the Africa Tech Festival panel discussions outlined clear pathways into a digitally competent future, a digital divide was still a clear challenge that policyholders needed to address with intentional effort.
The third Ministerial Forum on the sidelines of the Africa Tech Festival clearly confirmed efforts from government and policyholders to readjust efforts to ensure that policy adapted to provide a more inclusive technological landscape that benefitted all those who needed access.
Three position papers co-authored with consultations from Roland Berger and Ernst and Young outlined ubiquitous connectivity, a digitization blueprint for national prosperity, and how to shift towards cloud computing would materialize based on some of Huawei’s global case studies.
Ministers and high-level communications and digital technologies representatives from Uganda, South Africa, and Kenya, together with the ATU, have signed a joint communiqué to reaffirm their commitment to promoting inclusive and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa.
They have also agreed that such action will start with ICT technologies, including the development of national cloud infrastructures to meet the needs of intelligence and AI adoption; the development of solar micro-grids to increase electricity coverage across sub-Saharan Africa rapidly; and expanding network connectivity coverage in rural areas and developing smart education to bridge the urban-rural divide further.
Dr Li Zhengmao, Chairman of the World Broadband Association, shared China’s experience in digitalization, explaining that by building high-quality digital infrastructure, China laid a solid foundation for the digital economy, society, and government.
We appreciated how he outlined the country’s first-hand experience which could be applied to the sub-Saharan African region to further strengthen, promote, and bridge the gap between an identified digital divide.
Hover Gao, President of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa, confirmed how Huawei stood in a position to work closely with parties in an effort to provide expertise to support ongoing development towards an inclusive and sustainable digital and intelligent Africa.
Gao introduced a palatable Global Digitisation Index (GDI) at the forum, developed in collaboration with IDC to provide a measure of South Africa’s ICT industry maturity based on a number of digital fracture indicators which include computing, storage, cloud, and green energy.
This GDI research found that a US$1 investment in digital transformation yielded a return of US$8.3 in a country’s digital economy.
The Africa Tech Festival confirms an agreed-upon outlook for the next wave in digital transformation. The industry’s brightest minds continue to negotiate ideas that not only will reshape each industry but will contribute to creating a technological landscape that is equipped to transition into a desired technological marvel of solutions.
While some discussions were stale, the overall consensus is clear, the world is fast changing and platforms like AfricaCom, AfricaTech, AfricaIgnite, and the Africa Tech Festival as a whole continue to be relevant as they assist in precipitating the change necessary, and the expected result desired.
We appreciated discussions like the role in podcasting, business innovation, and technology, building a future-ready workforce in the age of AI, and how funding and the financial sector were likely to change all thanks to an evolving technological landscape.
This year’s installment of the Africa Tech Festival confirms key discussions that continue to contribute towards discussions that create the digital landscape we all hope for. An inclusive and competent digital landscape that leaves no one behind.
@theboardmemberglobal Moving at a competitive pace digitally is important according to Minister Silly Malatsi. #africatechfestival2024
As Communication and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi put it, Africa must move at the same pace as other technologically competent countries and to achieve that certain discussions with those who have walked the path needed to happen. Those discussions happened on platforms like the Africa Tech Festival.