Necessity is the mother of invention, and Rwanda’s government seems to understand this more than most with the launch of the ‘Centre of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ (C4IR).
“With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and rapid innovations witnessed during the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an increased urgency to develop digital and technological capacities to build more resilient systems for a healthier society and more sustainable economy,” said the Rwandan Minister of Information and Communication Technology and Innovation, Paula Ingabire. Ingabire made the comment in a media statement posted on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) website.
Some of the
projects that the C4IR is already working on are the country’s Artificial Intelligence
(AI) policy and laws on the protection of personal data and privacy. At the
launch of the center last week, President Paul Kagame said the facility was the
country’s pride. He added that it was evidence of how far it had advanced in
the fields of science and technology.
Speaking at the
launch, Borge Brende, president of the WEF, said that because the center was
the first of its kind to be set up in Africa, it will be a pacesetter. “This is
the first center to be formally launched in Africa. It says lot about
leadership in the country when it comes to leapfrogging and being visionary,
when it comes to new technologies.”
With that in
mind, Ingabire said the youth bulge was a huge advantage for the continent to
drive technologically motivated growth. She said: “The time has come for Africa
to put itself at the very center of a new technological revolution. Our
continent has a unique competitive advantage that stems from an undeniably
entrepreneurial spirit that is built into our young generations – that is an
ability to innovate out of necessity.”
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