Accelerating Africa’s digital transformation

A report by the African Development Bank notes that today, at least a quarter of the continent’s population has internet access, a nearly fifty-fold increase in internet usage since the turn of the millennium. Mobile technologies alone have already generated 1.7 million jobs and contributed US$144 billion to the continent’s economy, or roughly 8.5 percent of GDP Accelerating digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, robotics, and 3D printing – have obvious and important implications for education, employment, and the future of work   Leaders on the African continent must work harder to harness emerging technology to boost government performance, transparency, and inclusivity as the continent recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. They also need to ensure that the growing technological advancements across the continent are not used as a tool of repression, division, and conflict. According to a study by the World Health Organization, 13 percent of all new or modified technology developed to respond to COVID-19 is African. Across the African continent, there is a rapid spread of the internet which has been heralded as a key driver of prosperity and a sign that the continent’s technological ecosystem is coming of age. A report by the African Development Bank notes that