IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

At least 30 African cities will be recognized as for rolling out smart solutions during the upcoming Africa Smart and Sustainable Cities Investment Summit set to take place in Kigali from September 6-8.

The summit that will bring together 1,000 participants aims at fostering public-private partnerships, showcase smart city solutions, and identify investment opportunities that can create thriving and sustainable African cities.

Only 34% of Africans think that votes are "always" counted fairly, according to the Afrobarometer reportreleased in September 2016. However, electronic voting in Namibia in 2014 has had a positive effect on fairness perception among voters in that country.

Several African countries have been battling with the idea of having full electronic voting. Countries like Kenya, Ghana and Senegal have introduced the use of electronic systems in voter registration, voter identification and electronic relay of vote tallies, but not fully implemented digital voting.

Access and costs of broadband Internet are two of the indicators that explain the continent’s poor showing on the latest ICT Development Index, which ranks 157 countries based on their performance. The ITU report, entitled Measuring the Information Society, is the fifth in a series published by the UN agency since 2009. It tracks ICT developments and analyses, its costs and affordability in what amounts to “a performance evaluation.”

On 17 January, African diplomats meet their global counterparts in New York to thrash out the details of a proposed new United Nations (UN) treaty to tackle cybercrime. It will be an opportunity for the African delegates to highlight growing digital threats and determine how to define, investigate and prosecute what is in effect a borderless crime.

Existing treaties such as the Budapest Convention or the African Union (AU) Convention on Cybercrime and Personal Data Protection (the Malabo Convention) are considered by some states to be useful if somewhat limited regional instruments. Russia has been among the countries arguing for a UN-wide convention, with cyberspace increasingly becoming a theatre of geopolitical competition.

The attention of Africa's software engineers, academics, technology enthusiasts and innovators will move to Johannesburg, South Africa in August 2015 as the country hosts the second Africa and Middle East Conference on Software Engineering (AMECSE).

Organisers are utilising all available channels – including social networks - to communicate the significance of the academic event, which runs from 31 August to 1 September 2015 at the Parktonian Hotel in Braamfontein, alongside the 3rd Africa ICT Alliance (AfICTA) Summit.

• IMD Smart City Index 2023 highlights the top African countries driving smart city initiatives.
• Cairo, Algiers, and Cape Town lead the pack, driving urban technological advancements.
• These nations embrace technology for sustainability, shaping Africa's smart city revolution.

As the world enters a new era of urbanisation, smart cities are emerging as beacons of progress, embracing technological innovations to create sustainable and efficient urban environments. The IMD Smart City Index 2023 provides valuable insights into the cities at the forefront of this transformation.

Access to the internet via the mobile phone, the rollout of ultra-broadband services and increased capacity to facilitate the digitalisation of businesses top the list of the continent's connectivity requirements says Alcatel-Lucent.

The French telecommunications firm is currently working with service providers in the Ivory Coast and Tanzania to expand connectivity leveraging LTE network deployment.

Professor Mrs. Rita Akosua Dickson, Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) says it is imperative that Africa takes the investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and its responsible use seriously.

“AI holds much promise and is seen as a game changer in transforming the digital economy.

No more talking shops, no more feet-dragging! Now is the time to invest line-hook-and-sinker in the tools of digital transformations, as levers of Central Africa’s economic diversification or miss the 4th industrial revolution and remain in the hall of the least advanced subregion in Africa.

These are reverberations from government officials, senior state functionaries, digital transition policy experts and strategists, private sector representatives and young start-uppers following a five-day content-packed conference convened by the subregional office for Central Africa of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Government of Equatorial Guinea in Malabo.

Sadly, the principal victims of poor access to information are rural people. This is despite the fact that rural communities require information, inter alia, on supply of inputs, new technologies, early warning systems (drought, pests and diseases), credit, and market prices.

This paper discusses the benefits of digital government to developing countries and strives to explain why these benefits are experienced more at an individual level rather than at an aggregate level. The main reasons identified include digital divides, lack of optimal digital skills, gaps in the regulatory framework, and a lack of market competition and absence of accountable institutions. For developing countries to reap the benefits of digital government and undertake more inclusive and sustainable growth, these barriers to digital government must be overcome. We recommend measures for more inclusivity and sustainability of digital government projects.

In a rapidly evolving world, digitisation is gaining widespread significance across nations, which has continued to play a crucial role in shaping labor markets and contributing to the growth of economies.

As industries increasingly embrace digitization, the demand for individuals proficient in digital skills has continued to surge. This demand ranges from basic digital literacy that enables individuals to effectively use simple digital tools, to advanced digital skills necessary to participate in the global division of digital labour.

From basic Internet and telephony to sophisticated cloud offerings, connectivity and communication are the heart of ICT, and central to delivering these services is the network backbone, enabling access for connectivity. While multiple undersea cables have landed on the African continent, providing the potential for high-speed connectivity, much of the population remains unable to access this, which is slowing business growth.

In today's world, information consumption is growing explosively, with large amounts of data being sent over the Internet. As smart home and smart city technologies develop, all equipment, from household appliances to industrial devices, will soon be able to exchange information with each other and efficiently control all processes. To achieve this, we need technologies that can collect a wide range of data about the state of devices and the environment in real-time.

Nikolay Khorkov, the founder of Fibertooland Optolex and a renowned expert in fiber optic technologies, suggested that utilizing fiber optic cables as sensors could be a viable solution to the problem at hand.

For the first time, the Smart City Fair will be inaugurated in March 2023 in the city of Casablanca in Morocco, with the aim of presenting more concrete solutions and innovations for the future

The Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer of the Hassan University of Casablanca will host the first edition of the ''Salon PedagogicAfrica Smart City''. The event will be held from 15 to 17 March 2021 under the theme ''Moroccan engineering at the service of the smart city''.

Next month, the new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals will be adopted in New York. The SDGs will usher in new development objectives for the international community. These goals encompass a wide range of objectives, but they make only passing reference to a vitally important instrument in the development toolbox: expanded Internet access.

Overlooking the expansion of Internet access is problematic as it is set to become the most important infrastructure for development that the world has ever seen. The free flow of data can positively affect a country’s wealth, health and education, not to mention broader social goals such as improved democracy, accountability and an expansion of the rule of law. According to the Boston Consulting Group, by 2016 the Internet will contribute upwards of $4.2-trillion (U.S.) to G20 economies – and most of the world is still offline.

Kenya is the most prepared country for artificial intelligence in Africa, According to the 2019 Government AI Readiness Index published by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Oxford Insights.

Out of the 194 countries ranked in the world, 12 African countries are in the top100.

• Business Insider Africa and the Africa Collective initiative it supports present the list of the smartest African cities in 2023.
• This list is courtesy of the IMD Smart City Index, which ranks 141 cities worldwide based on perceptions of residents regarding the structures and technology available in their cities, with weight given to perceptions from the last three years. 
• The perceptions are evaluated over two pillars, Structures, and Technology, which are further evaluated over five key areas: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance, and the cities are divided into four groups based on their Human Development Index (HDI) scores.

Smart cities are the future of urban living. By integrating technology into every aspect of urban life, these cities can create a more efficient, sustainable, and livable environment for their residents. From transportation to public safety to waste management, smart city technology can make a significant impact on urban life.

Business has been growing at the brothers’ Kobciye Internet Coffee, one of the several makeshift Internet cafés that have emerged in Mogadishu since the Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab fled the city. “I wanted a business,” Hassan says, “and this is something that I’m good at. I have skills in computers and IT.” The café costs around $600 a month to run, and the brothers manage to bring in around $1,000 from their 40 or so daily customers, mostly university students.

Data protection law has been gaining ground in Africa over the past 20 years. Today, out of 54 countries, 25 have passed data protection laws, the latest countries being Uganda, Nigeria and Egypt. Other countries have introduced data protection bills which are under discussion or waiting to be on the legislative agenda.