{"id":113501,"date":"2024-12-14T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/?post_type=ftm_article&p=113501"},"modified":"2024-12-16T08:54:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T13:54:47","slug":"africa-digital-decade","status":"publish","type":"ftm_article","link":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/the-digital-frontier\/africa-digital-decade","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s $1 billion bet on Africa\u2019s digital future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article is an installment of Future Explored<\/a>, a weekly guide to world-changing technology. You can get stories like this one straight to your inbox every Saturday morning by subscribing above.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s 2030, and more than two-thirds of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is now online. While this internet access is helping residents combat poverty, disease, illiteracy, and more, continuous effort will be required to ensure the benefits of the tech outweigh its potential harms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa\u2019s \u201cdigital decade\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been 55 years since a team of researchers at UCLA sent a message from their university\u2019s room-sized computer to another massive machine housed at Stanford, giving birth to the technology that would eventually become the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, computers have gotten small enough to carry around in our pockets, the wires are optional, and two-thirds<\/a> of the world\u2019s population is now online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For individuals, this internet access has meant opportunities in work, education, healthcare, and more that aren\u2019t available to those still offline. On a national level, digital connectivity has typically translated to a more productive workforce<\/a>, higher standard of living<\/a>, and economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These benefits are currently out of reach for the majority of people in the nations of sub-Saharan Africa, where the internet adoption rate is currently just 37%<\/a>, but tech giant Google is predicting that the next 10 years could be the region\u2019s \u201cdigital decade<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out what that could mean for sub-Saharan Africa, let\u2019s look at the history of digital tech on the continent, how Google is working to bring its own prediction to fruition, and what can be done to help ensure that internet access is a net positive for Africa\u2019s most vulnerable residents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where we\u2019ve been<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"1960s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Where we are<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sub-Saharan Africa \u2014 the part of the continent below the Sahara Desert \u2014 doesn\u2019t just have the world\u2019s lowest internet adoption rate. It\u2019s also home to the majority<\/a> of the world\u2019s least-developed countries (LDCs)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These nations are characterized by low GDPs and populations experiencing high levels of poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, gender inequality, and other barriers to sustainable development. Internet access could help break down these barriers<\/a>, but LDCs have particularly low internet adoption rates, with just 27%<\/a> of their residents online.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internet access isn\u2019t the only area where LDCs are lagging behind. Progress in technologies enabled by the internet, like AI, is advancing rapidly in developed nations, and according to the UN, the gap between the countries with the most advanced tech and those with the least is actually widening<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The next decade is set to be sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s digital decade.”<\/p>Matt Brittin<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Getting sub-Saharan Africans online is the first step to closing that gap, and despite its still-low internet adoption numbers, the region is<\/em> trending in the right direction \u2014 a Google-funded report by Public First<\/a>, a public policy research agency, has predicted that more than half the area\u2019s population will be online by 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe next decade is set to be sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s digital decade \u2014 with emerging technologies set to significantly accelerate the continent\u2019s development,\u201d Matt Brittin, president of Google Europe, Middle East, and Africa, predicted in an October 2024 blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Graph
Public First<\/figcaption><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Where we\u2019re going (maybe)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To close the digital divide, the region first needs affordable, high-speed internet access. Its residents then need to be taught the skills needed to take advantage of the digital world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since opening its first office in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007, Google has invested millions into helping bring both access and education to the region \u2014 it\u2019s partnered with manufacturers to make cheaper smartphones<\/a> for the African market, helped millions of Africans access digital tools and training<\/a>, and built Equiano, a subsea cable<\/a> speeding up the connection between Africa and Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, the tech giant announced its biggest initiative yet: a $1 billion investment<\/a> over the next five years into Africa\u2019s \u201cdigital transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“This research reaffirms the importance of our investments.” <\/p>\nAlex Okosi<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Google says<\/a> it has already spent $900 million on projects<\/a> in Africa in the three years since announcing the investment, and according to the report it commissioned from Public First to look into its impact on sub-Sharan Africa, it\u2019s on track to meet the $1 billion goal by 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among other things, the investment money has been used to open new AI labs in Ghana and Kenya, fund initiatives<\/a> designed to support African founders, and create Africa\u2019s first \u201cGoogle Cloud\u201d region<\/a> and its first Google product development center<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis research reaffirms the importance of our investments,\u201d Alex Okosi, Google\u2019s managing director for sub-Saharan Africa, wrote in the report\u2019s forward. \u201cPublic First found that every $1 invested in digital technology in the region will generate over $2 in economic value by 2030, with an even greater return in front runner nations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We don\u2019t want to leave anyone behind.”<\/p>Alex Okosi<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In May 2024, Google announced its next big project as part of the investment: building Umoja, the first subsea fiber-optic cable<\/a> between Africa and Australia. According to Okosi, this will help address the two biggest barriers to closing the digital divide in the region: high data costs and connectivity challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvesting in infrastructure like Equiano and Umoja are going to help bring down these costs and enable businesses to hopefully tap into this digital highway that enables them to be more efficient,\u201d he told CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe still need to partner with last-mile operators to make sure that they are leveraging this new bandwidth, and it\u2019s bringing the cost down so the consumer can feel it,\u201d Okosi added. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to leave anyone behind, and the only way to ensure that is to make sure the cost of data is lower.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map
Google<\/figcaption><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to sharing the update on its $1 billion investment, Google also recently announced that its philanthropic arm, Google.org, is committing $5.8 million<\/a> in grants \u201cto support AI skilling and education across sub-Saharan Africa.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This money will help ensure that Africans are able to take advantage of the technology once they have access to it, and the Raspberry Pi Foundation<\/a>, a UK-based charity focused on the promotion of computer science education, is one of its recipients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Africa, we are partnering with Young Scientists Kenya and Data Scientists Network Foundation to roll out AI literacy education for Kenyan and Nigerian youth,\u201d a spokesperson for the Foundation told Freethink of its plans for the grant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYoung people need to be more than just consumers of technology. They need to be digital protagonists, able to confidently engage with and shape the digital world.\u201d <\/p>\nA Raspberry Pi Foundation spokesperson<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This education will include lessons<\/a> on different types of AI, how machine learning can be used to solve problems, and the technology\u2019s limitations. These lessons will be tailored to \u201cstudents aged 11-14 with a focus on those from underserved communities,\u201d according to the Foundation spokesperson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is also launching several new resources<\/a> focused on AI safety in Africa. One of these, \u201cAI and Your Data,\u201d is designed to get students thinking about how they share data with applications in the age of AI, while another focuses on how AI can be used to both perpetuate and combat misinformation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYoung people need to be more than just consumers of technology,\u201d the spokesperson told Freethink. \u201cThey need to be digital protagonists, able to confidently engage with and shape the digital world.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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