Southern Africa – Page 3 – Africa Tech Digest

Zimbabwe Aims to become Africa’s Tech hub

4Jan

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Southern Africa

Zimbabwe Aims to become Africa’s Tech hub

Zimbabwe aims to follow Ethiopia, Ghana and Rwanda in its dream to become one of Africa’s tech hubs ( a community informal or otherwise that fosters innovation for technology startup companies). The economy of Zimbabwe has long been engineered by mining and agricultural activities, with a lead role for tobacco and cotton. Quartz conducted a report weighing Zimbabwe’s chances to succeed on its mission. The role of telecom companies is considered as critical to the country’s bid to establish itself as a tech hub. It identifies a number of investments in tech, done by large telecom, in an effort to enhance Zimbabwe’s data capacity and capability. Continue reading

Drones driven by AI will track illegal fishing in African waters

Across the African continent, drones are finding innovative uses -- from monitoring displaced populations to delivering critical medical supplies. Moroccan technology startup ATLAN Space is developing artificial intelligence (AI) to guide autonomous drones so they can scan large areas for "environmental crimes" like illegal fishing, poaching or deforestation. In June, ATLAN Space won the National Geographic Society's $150,000 Marine Protection Prize to implement a pilot project to combat illegal fishing in Seychelles. Drones will be armed with information about illegal fishing hotspots, explains Badr Idrissi, CEO and co-founder of ATLAN Space. Once a drone detects a boat, AI will enable it to verify whether it is a cruising boat, tanker or fishing vessel. The drone will then est...

Zimbabwe is trying to transform itself into a leading tech hub with China’s help

Harare, Zimbabwe There’s a quiet buzz in Zimbabwe right now for the opportunity of informational and communications technology might have as a transformational impact on the beleaguered economy. The southern African country, which has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, is looking to China to help building capacity and technological know-how to build one of the continent’s biggest IT hubs underpinned by big data and artificial intelligence. Zimbabwe’s tech industry has arguably performed better than other companies in the troubled economy of the last decade and a half under former president Robert Mugabe. The big telecom companies have bumped up investment into enhancing data capacity and capability, led by Econet, the No.1 telco, has spent $1.3 billion over the last ...