缅北禁地

The country that gave the world two groundbreaking innovations in technology: M-Pesa, a mobile banking system, and Ushahidi, a platform for crowdsourcing information during disasters, is now taking its technological talents to new heights. The East African nation of Kenya has just started construction on a 5,000-acres piece of land in Konza, about 60km south of Nairobi, to turn the savannah area into 鈥渢he most modern city in Africa鈥�.听

Using the same company that designed Brooklyn鈥檚 Barclays Center in New York City, SHoP Architects, Kenyan authorities want to transform Nairobi鈥檚 Konza City into Africa鈥檚 technology hub, dubbed Silicon Savannah, similar to California鈥檚 Silicon Valley. The designers told the UK鈥檚 Financial Times that 鈥渢he scale of the project compares with creating another Manhattan, central London or inner-city Beijing.鈥�

The Konza techno city project is the brainchild of Bitange Ndemo, Kenya鈥檚 permanent secretary in the ministry of information and communications. 鈥淩ather than echo a smattering of tech parks and business centres starting up on the continent,鈥� says the Financial Times, 鈥淜enya envisions a broader city-from-scratch to bring research universities, industry and government together, along the lines of Silicon Valley鈥�.

The Wired magazine reported that Konza鈥檚 development 鈥減lan is extremely ambitious鈥� and is 鈥渘ot just seen as a way of attracting investment from international tech companies and inspiring domestic entrepreneurs, but also as a way of reducing the corruption that has been endemic in the nation for several decades.鈥�

Konza is expected to cement Kenya鈥檚 role as a regional technology leader in Africa. With a well developed technology sector, Kenya became the first country in Africa to open its government to the public by making millions of pages of internal governments documents available online. The country鈥檚 M-Pesa cell phone banking service is now being used all over the world for purchases and money transfers, and according to the US Time magazine, Ushahidi has been used 鈥渋n 128 countries to map everything from [the 2010] earthquake in Haiti to [the] Japanese tsunami and the Arab Spring.鈥�

The unveiling of the Konza project is being seen as a natural progression of Kenya鈥檚 aspirations to attract corporate investments in technology. In 2012, IBM set up its first African research lab in Nairobi, joining renowned American companies like Google, Microsoft and Intel that have their regional headquarters Kenya. Konza is heavily-influenced by similar 鈥渘ew cities鈥�, like Cyberjaya in Malaysia, Cyber City in Mauritius and Egypt鈥檚 Smart Village, says the Wired.

The project is expected to cost $10 billion and create more than 200,000 jobs when completed in 2030. There are plans for an electronic manufacturing plant, an international financial centre and a convention centre. The government is offering tax breaks to companies as an incentive to move and invest in Konza.听

Amid the euphoria and excitement over the prospects for Silicon Savannah, there have been some voices of caution. Technology experts at the Mobile Web East Africa conference held in Nairobi in February warned Kenya鈥檚 technology industry against copying the Silicon Valley business model. Their concern was that most of the companies being formed in Kenya were based on a single app or software programme.听

鈥淜enya should be more of a 鈥楧igital Savannah鈥� and not 鈥楽ilicon Savannah鈥�, says TMS 鈥淭eddy鈥� Ruge, co-founder of Project Diaspora USA/Uganda, an organization that mobilizes resources from Africans in diaspora to invest in Africa, 鈥淲e are yet to manufacture things here, and most of the companies we have here are based on digital solutions.鈥澨�

Kenya鈥檚 reputation as a technology leader in Africa suffered an embarrassing setback during the March national elections when both a biometric ID system designed to avoid multiple voting and an electronic transmission system to speed up vote counting broke down. The country鈥檚 independent electoral body was forced to switch to counting votes manually, slowing down the process and causing national anxiety.听

Notwithstanding, Konza appears to be proving skeptics wrong. So far, more than a dozen companies are expected to start setting up operations in Konza.听

鈥淜onza will become a game-changer in Kenya鈥檚 socio-economic development, spurring massive trade and investment across the entire region,鈥� said President Mwai Kibaki at the groundbreaking ceremony held in January at the proposed new city.鈥�

Africa unveils its first smartphone and tablet

By Aissata Haidara

Excitement greeted news that V茅rone Mankou, the 26-year old entrepreneur from the Republic of Congo, has designed Africa鈥檚 first smartphone and a tablet, the hand-held computer that comes with a touch screen.听

Mankou鈥檚 tech company, VMK, designed the sleek smartphone and tablet, which was originally conceived in 2006 as an affordable computer to give Africans access to Internet. The devices run on Google鈥檚 Android software and are assembled in China, making some technology analysts question Mr. Mankou鈥檚 assertion that these were the first African touchpad tablet and smartphone. In response to such criticism, Mr. Mankou writes on his website, 鈥淲e are somewhat offended by the disregard of those who persist in denying the authentication of our products, despite evidence.鈥�

To reinforce the Made-in-Africa claim, Mr. Mankou named his smartphone Elikia, for 鈥渉ope鈥� in Congolese Lingala dialect. The official name for the tablet is Way-C, and it comes with wireless internet connectivity and four gigabytes of internal storage. Elikia has rear and forward-facing cameras and a 3.5in (8.9cm) screen, 512MB of RAM, and a 650MHz processor. Mr. Mankou plans to sell the devices across African countries as well as in Belgium, France and India.

VMK鈥檚 smartphone will have to compete against established brands such as Blackberry and Nokia, while the tablet has to face Apple鈥檚 iPad, Samsung Galaxy and others. About his smartphone, Mr. Mankou says, 鈥淲e wanted to place on the market a quality smartphone with the same capacities as the others, while ensuring that it鈥檚 a product which is accessible to all.鈥�

Mr. Mankou hopes to rely on pan-African sentiments. There appears to be an increasing desire among some in Africa to support homegrown products. Recently, for instance, there was a minor incident with app purchasing when Google Play did not accept credit cards issued in the Congo. VMK announced its own app store with apps 鈥渄eveloped by Africans for Africa鈥� and prepaid gift cards to give Africans a similar experience.听

Several technology bloggers in Africa believe VMK鈥檚 devices, which are currently available through telecom carrier Airtel with the possible addition of MTN and Warid, could still expand their reach and compete on the international market. The Congolese entrepreneur has set big ambitions for his devices, 鈥淎pple is huge in the US, Samsung is huge in Asia, and we want VMK to be huge in Africa,鈥� he says.

Livestock tracking in Africa goes high tech

By Pavithra Rao

In an era of lightning speed, ever-present wireless connectivity, high tech is now also being used to benefit livestock farmers in rural areas of Africa. Widely known for being used to track wild animals, GPS, or 鈥淕lobal Positioning System鈥� tracking devices are being adapted by some small- and large-scale farmers to manage their livestock, notably in Kenya, Botswana, and South Africa.听

Tracking an animal is accomplished through either the bolus technique, in which an animal is made to swallow a tracking 鈥渢ablet鈥�, or through a microchip implantation or an ear-tagging technique. Once fitted with a device, GPS technology can precisely pinpoint an animal鈥檚 location and alert farmers whenever the livestock goes missing or is stolen. 听

In addition, the technology is being fine-tuned to give farmers the ability to control outbreaks of diseases. Explaining how the GPS system works on animals, Ebby Nanzala of the New Agriculturalist, an online magazine that focuses on tropical agriculture, says, 鈥淭hrough their unique numbers on the tag, they [farmers] are able to maintain the data. If there is a disease outbreak, it will be easier for it to be tracked and controlled.鈥澨�

Mr. Nanzala adds that though the costs for such technology are high, the cost of losing animals to theft and disease is clearly higher. While allaying fears of the high cost of technology, he notes that with government support, 鈥渢he [GPS tracking] chips will be very cheap and could be used and re-used for over 30 years鈥�. 听

Similarly, the 缅北禁地Food and Agricultural Organization has created a GPS-based mobile phone application that will inform farmers of their animals鈥� vaccination schedules, veterinary treatments as well as disease outbreaks.鈥�