Record Detail Back
Futures of Technology in Africa.
- Share to:
ery successful economic catch-up in the past 140 years has involved the ap- propriation of international technology, and technology plays an important role in most strategies to alleviate hunger and poverty, including the UN’s Millen- nium Development Goals. In addition to the ethical imperatives of fighting poverty and hunger, a number of global issues, including demographic shifts, climate change and geo-political sta- bility, require the application of tech- nology in developing countries. Beyond these considerations, businesses in de- veloped and developing countries alike have discovered the significant buying power of the poor and their desire for affordable consumer products, as well as the potential to reduce costs through production in less developed countries. Consumption and production in poor regions are now strong drivers of global technology innovation and diffusion.
The set of opportunities and constraints guiding technological dynamics in developing countries differs from that of developed countries in some im- portant respects. For example, devel-
oped countries are subject to strong technological lock-ins, such as communication through copper wires, internet access with desktop computers, car-intensive transport infrastructures and central- ized systems of energy production. Many less and least developed countries are not subject to these limitations, offering them the opportunity for so-called leapfrogging. Landline telephones, still widespread in developed countries, are skipped in the evolution of telecoms sectors in less developed countries. For many applications, desktop will be skipped as smart phones and similar gadgets pro- vide internet access. In many rural areas, decen- tralized energy solutions will roll out more quickly than the centralized ones that still form the back- bone of energy systems in developed countries.
However, while the possibility of installing the latest generation of technology from scratch offers
opportunities, the path of resource-intensive tech- nology that the Western countries have followed
is largely closed to developing countries, be it for reasons of prohibitive costs of resources, relative lack of capital or global sustainability. This mostly concerns the use of fossil fuels, rare materials and fertilizers. An obstacle in the path of becoming
a source of global technology is the fact that the global technological knowledge economy is highly concentrated in a very few places. This process
of concentration is self-reinforcing. Geographical centres of technological excellence and innovation attract innovators, capital and expertise, making it particularly difficult for others to catch up. Experts and professionals tend to move towards these centres, and a brain drain takes plac
Jasper Grosskurth - Personal Name
1st Edtion
978-90-809613-7-1
NONE
Futures of Technology in Africa.
Management
English
STT Publication
2010
USA
1-83
LOADING LIST...
LOADING LIST...