Technology and Our Vision 2040
What you need to know:
- There has been a great push for electoral reforms too but we should focus on the larger question of constitutional reforms which then will inform the necessary reforms such as the electoral reforms
Technological advancements are at record high. These advancements have simplified lives for the better in ways unimaginable.
No generation in history has enjoyed the benefits more than you and I bask in. Though we have access to these technologies, thanks to technology globalisation, sadly enough, the African continent has been more at the consuming end and contributing little to the advancement of these technologies. With globalisation, it is more of catching up with nations that developed before us.
Statistics, published over time, have painted a picture of Africa, that is so much promising, only if Africa keeps on the trajectory to that success.
In the software engineering and development industry, a sector that needs urgent attention and action (specifically for our nation Uganda), the numbers are in our favour.
A research report by Google-IFC “e-Conomy Africa 2020” reveals that Africa’s internet economy has the prospective to reach 5.2 percent of the continent’s GDP by 2025, contributing $180 billion to its economy and reports that there are 700,000 software developers on the continent, as of 2019.
This shows the great treasure our governments, (in our case, the Uganda government) can tap into for economic transformation. Some African countries, for example Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, and South Africa, shall have the share of the economy powered by the internet (the iGDP) at 6 percent, comparable to where the USA is today.
With these trends, the internet economy, shall contribute $180b and $712b to the African economy by 2025 and 2050 respectively. With these empirical data at hand, there is much evidence to justify investments in such a sector.
Thanks to the national leadership, the constraints are being reduced, for example the cost of internet data is getting lower and electricity is getting to hard-to-reach places. More is getting done to position Uganda in the technology marketplace. For example, the national Vision 2040, casts promises that are investment-worthy.
The vision, under the proposed framework for STEI (Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation) states the need to establish a National Science, Technology and Innovation System, which shall define the complex relationship between the network of institutions in the public and private sectors.
This, if implemented, shall be a giant step towards a future we collectively envision. However, great efforts must be directed towards organically building local capacity to provide leadership in implementing strategies to achieve these goals.
It is perfect, to learn from those that have gone ahead of us. And it is much rewarding when our local institutions and human capital are at the centre of this transformation, or else we risk importing innovations and/or solutions that are most likely not a fit for our local problems and challenges.
However, much more demands our urgent attention. For example, the local software engineering and development industry, which has proved to be a great enabler of digital transformation, is not yet to the maturity level as compared to other countries in the region and globally. This presents an imperative necessity for leadership by academia, industry and government to grow businesses and human capital in such a key sector.
With the current advancements in artificial intelligence and software engineering, much more can be accomplished with less while using these technologies. Being late to act in times like these, is catastrophic and we can’t risk to miss the technological ‘cone’ of opportunity.
Questions, worth asking, are:
1) Is there empirical research conducted specifically for the local software engineering and development industry?
2) Which strategies have been put in place to improve and grow the industry?
3) How prepared is the academia to take up the leadership mantle to drive the digital transformation through research and research commercialisation?
Such questions can be guiding to better find solutions to problems and challenges affecting one of the key industries that has proved beyond doubt, to be a transformer of many countries.
Steven Kakaire, Software Engineer
