Government, universities, public and private sectors including large enterprises, small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups plays a dominant role in the innovation, development and application of emerging technologies such as AI, Machine learning, IoT and etc in the digital economy hence enabling digital talent to flourish and improve Africa’s digital landscape. Emerging technologies research and product development is increasingly led by large technology companies which can afford to hire top talent, capture and obtain better data and employ large-scale computing facilities, experimentation labs and testbeds for product design.

Government, universities, public and private sectors have an important role to play with diffusion of emerging technology on the supply side, and adoption and usage of the technology on the demand side. Start-ups can also help expand the overall emerging technologies ecosystem as they seek out scalable business models. Dynamic entrepreneurship and well-developed innovation ecosystems can drive technology diffusion in new areas, with a growing number of start-ups developing digital solutions for new and different contexts which could definitely be realized with the sole involvement of Government, universities, public and private sectors.

Under this roundtable discussion, what roles should Government, universities, public and private sectors play will be emphasized and discussed by different speakers from member state countries by enumerating practical use cases in their respective countries. The future perspectives of emerging technologies in the continent and policy recommendations will also be stipulated based on the real experiences of representing member state countries.

Subtheme

• AI and emerging technologies

Leading Organization

• UNECA

Session format

• Pannel discussion

Session Time

• 60 minutes

Objectives of the session

• To clearly pinpoint the roles of government, universities, public and private sectors to unleash the full potentials of emerging technologies in transforming Africa’s digital landscape.
• To enumerate the work of UNECA which are vital in diversifying the full potentials of emerging technologies in the continent by supporting member state countries.
• To overview some of the emerging technology practical use cases initiated by some of the member state countries.
• To have a clear view on the future perspectives of emerging technologies in Africa
• To highlight some of the challenges the African continent is facing in diversifying the applications of emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning, IoT and etc.
• To stipulate and put forward policy recommendations to insurge the applications of emerging technologies in such away to improve the digital landscape of the continent and hence guarantee socio economic development.

Expected outcomes and specific outputs: -

• Clear roles of government, universities, public and private sectors to unleash the full potentials of emerging technologies in transforming Africa’s digital landscape.
• Emphasized list of initiatives and activities done by UNECA and to call other partner institution for further support.
• Lesson from member state countries based on their real and practical emerging technology use cases presented.
• List of challenges faced by represented countries and some useful guidelines to obscure the challenges.
• List of policy recommendations to fully utilize the potentials of emerging technologies.
• General consensus on the future perspectives of emerging technologies in the continent and to be prepared in utilizing the full potentials of the technology.

Relevance to the Theme

• There is no doubt that the session is in line with the theme “Transforming Africa’s Digital Landscape: empowering inclusion, security and innovation” since emerging technologies are the backbone of digital landscape globally and Africa as well.

Session Language

• English

Moderator

• Dr. Mactar Seck

Session Speakers

• Souhila Amazouh - African Union Commission
• Amr Farouk Safwat – Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Arab Republic of Egypt
• Prof. Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo - Vice-Chairperson of the African Union Cyber Security Experts (Attending in person)
• Dr. Dereje Ashenafi - Ex-Lecturer, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (Attending virtually) (ACADEMIA)
• Dr. Jimson Olufuye - Chair of the Advisory Council of AfICTA (Private Sector)
• Linda Bonyo - Founder of Lawyers Hub

Session Rapporteur

• Hilda Mwakatumbula