Futureproofing Africa's Research & Development in Technology

The links between the inspiration of science fiction and technological advances have long been acknowledged in the developed world. From Jules Verne and H.G. Wells to Douglas Adams and William Gibson, science has caught up with art and resulted in developments in transport and communications that have redefined the world we live in today. Whereas once it was natural resources that were the key indicators of a country’s net worth, it is the intangible capital of the knowledge economy that is perceived to be where a country’s potential for wealth now resides. That Africa is following suit and that technological advances and developments are being influenced by art and science fiction should come as no surprise.
In a recent article in The Guardian, Jessica Bland discusses in detail cultural developments in African Futurism; the reimagined Afrofuturism of the South African musician Spoek Mathambo and the Fantasma collective, along with a science fiction anthology from a Lagos publisher that imagines life in the city in the year 2060. Bland suggests that this kind of speculation is the key to creating a dialogue between African culture and a technology that is accessible to and permeates every area of African society and public life, influencing developments in everything from agricultural production to healthcare.
This echoes the mandate of the Planet Earth Institute and its Angolan Chairman, Dr Alvarao Sobrinho, who is also founder of the Campaign for Africa’s Scientific Independence. Dr Sobrinho sees the public narrative of science as crucial to driving technological developments in Africa and in an article written in 2013 stressed that science must be perceived “as something that can provide answers for us all, not merely a closed and insular sector outside of every day life”.
The Africa Data Challenge, an initiative run by the Institute, helped to bridge that gap by drawing proposals from all over the world for data driven projects with practical applications to improve quality of life in Africa. The two winning projects were related to Agricultural development and a collaboration with a UK-based group to develop a data analysis programme to identify patterns in the spread of disease. It is these kinds of ideas, particularly those that involve collaboration, that Dr Sobrinho sees as integral to Africa achieving scientific independence and self-sustainability.
The key to developing this is investment; venture capital does not discriminate, it follows the best ideas. If the emerging African technology markets want to draw the best investors, they also need to have the best ideas. Inspiration for those ideas can come from many sources; necessity, perspiration and creativity. Whether or not African Science Fiction is good enough for the world stage remains to be seen, but it won’t be the result of a lack of effort on the part of Dr Sobhrino and his attempts to create a dialogue between the visionaries who dream and the visionaries who do.