InnovateAfrica

A three-year programme was designed and will be presented for adoption at an official launch that will coincide with the NEPAD Youth Summit to be held in June.

The purpose of the NEPAD ICT Programme is to accelerate development of ICT infrastructure, and impart ICT skills.

Kenya is estimated to have 1.4 million internet users with about 95% of these users located in the two major cities, Na

F/OSS-based companies are beginning to emerge in Africa, and with them, the support and training capacity for broader F/OSS adoption. Examples include Obsidian (www.obsidian.co.za) in South Africa, Circuits & Packets Communications Ltd (www.circuitspackets.com) in Kenya and Linux Solutions in Uganda (www.linuxsolutions.co.ug)

Donors with long histories of involvement in ICT development in Africa, such as IDRC and Association for Progressive Communication (APC), hosted several workshops for ICT stakeholders, helping to raise the visibility of F/OSS and related ICT concerns.

The development sector works in the same way and undercuts local players by donating capital, ICT tools and expertise. Offering services for free makes it near impossible for local organizations to compete at cost

The R&D policy must be based on the production conditions in the region, the need first to produce for the domestic/regional market (only secondarily for the export market), and Africa’s location within the global value chain.’

Given this context, local capacity is a critical component to Africa’s story. If the continent is ever to take control of the technologies it consumes it will need the people intelligent enough to know how it works. I argue that this is where we need to focus our attention.