
OPEN INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
New technologies and innovative solutions will determine the future of Africa. Digitization holds clear opportunities for development and huge potential for growth. Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for information and communication technologies. With over 1 billion inhabitants, Africa offers a huge untapped market whose most impressive features are its young population, growing mobility and technological innovation. Over the last few years modern information and communication technologies have become established in numerous areas of application. According to the World Bank, more than 650 million people in Africa currently own a mobile phone, which means Africa is home to more users than Europe or the USA.

Digital disruption and the 4th industrial revolution is coming, and it is coming at a rapid pace. It is critical that the African economy be prepared for this massive shift. Failure to meaningfully rise to this challenge means that we will relegate ourselves to just being consumers of foreign technology and services. The opportunity exists to create something that can meaningfully accelerate Africa’s participation in the new digital economy. Something based on solving real world problems that have relevance to the majority of the world population – developing local (African) solutions, local IP, local economies, with global impact however for this to happen, we need a different approach to the way that we have been tackling problems, and partnerships across society (government, private sector, academic and citizens) are critical. At the core of the approach is the concept of human centered design.
Embracing human centered design means believing that all problems even the seemingly intractable ones like poverty, gender equality, health and clean water, are solvable. Moreover, it means believing that the people who face those problems every day are the ones who hold the key to their answer. Human-centered design offers problem solvers of a chance to design with communities, service recipients and other partners, to deeply understand the people they’re looking to serve, to dream up scores of ideas, and to create innovative new solutions rooted in people’s actual needs solutions that are desirable, feasible, and viable.
By starting with humans, their hopes, fears, and needs, we quickly uncover what’s most desirable. But that’s only one lens through which we look at our solutions. Once we’ve determined a range of solutions that could appeal to the community we’re looking to serve, we then start to hone in on what is technically feasible to actually implement and how to make the solution financially viable. It’s a balancing act, but one that’s absolutely crucial to designing solutions that are successful and sustainable promotes collaboration, we aim to create an ideal environment to focus on developing, demonstrating, deploying, and commercializing innovations that address the world’s most pressing problems. The key driver for the projects pursued is social impact and knowledge (IP) creation. The intellectual genesis of the digital revolution is collaboration – people working together to pioneer technological breakthroughs that have allowed them to nurture their own imagination and ally creatively with others. This is the opportunity that awaits us if we meaningfully engage in this transformation journey.
