President Kagame has suggested three ways in which strong partnerships could be harnessed to accelerate digital transformation in Africa. Kagame who was presiding over the launch of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) in Kigali on Thursday said that one such way is by stimulating entrepreneurship through increased investments in the right skills and capacity. Other ways, he added, are; “ by helping to address the financing gaps that prevent Africa’s businesses scaling up, lastly, by working to harmonise data governance landscape, and thereby fast-tracking the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.” The president said that some of the strong partnerships have begun, and their initiatives are promising. The launch of the C4IR is a result of a partnership of the Ministry of ICT and Innovation and the World Economic Forum (WEF). In a previous interview with The New Times, the Minister for ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, disclosed that C4IR Rwanda’s approach is centred on multi-stakeholder collaboration. This, she said, enables it to gather input from a variety of stakeholders (private, public, civil society…), thereby helping to maximize the effectiveness of its work. Over the years, Kagame said, the Forum has accompanied our country’s ambition to be a digital economy, aiming at inclusive and sustainable growth. And that the launch of the Centre is happening at a critical time and we must take full advantage of it. He added that the launch of the Centre is enabled by investments that “we, as a country, have been making in science and technology.” This, he said, has sped up changes that were already underway; the way we live, work and interact with each other will keep evolving as technology does. In Rwanda, and all over the world, the President added, emerging technologies have driven innovations to contain the Covid pandemic, and mitigate its impact on livelihoods. “I hope the centre will build on this by making the Fourth Industrial Revolution an equalising force and contributing solutions to some of today’s most pressing challenges,” he added. Crystal Rugege, the Managing Director of C4IR said that Rwanda has a solid foundation to harness the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “Starting with strategic investments made to create more equitable access to energy, connectivity and devices. To also prioritise progressive policies and regulations that embrace innovation and also safeguard social welfare,” she added. According to Rugege, the term “Fourth Industrial Revolution” was coined by Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Chairman of the World Economic Forum in 2016, to describe the rapid evolution of Technology “that is a fusion of the physical, digital and the biological world,” she said. Børge Brende, the President of the World Economic Forum said the launch of the centre in Rwanda is timely since the Covid-19 pandemic led to an acceleration of digital transformation that would have taken 10 years in the last two years. “This underlines the importance to now be much in the front, when it comes to having the right environment for seed capital, venture capital, and use the skills of young people,” Brende said. While there are more than a dozen C4IR in the world, today marks history for Africa, since the centre in Rwanda is the very first to be formally launched on the continent. Among other things, C4IR shapes new policies and strategies in areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and digital assets, and enables agile implementation and iteration through its network of national and sub-national centres.
