See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: [Link]

net/publication/261842940

Technological Innovations and Africa’s Quest for Development in the 21st

Century

Chapter · January 2010

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61692-006-7.ch022

CITATIONS READS
7 3,470

1 author:

Evans Osabuohien
Covenant University Ota Ogun State, Nigeria
228 PUBLICATIONS 3,712 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Evans Osabuohien on 25 April 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

382

Chapter 22
Technological Innovations and
Africa’s Quest for Development
in the 21st Century
Evans S. C. Osabuohien
Covenant University, Nigeria Lund University, Sweden

abstract
Technology is generally seen as a significant tool for development while technological innovations con-
note better ways of achieving results. This chapter assesses different areas countries can experience
technological innovations and notes that most African countries are lagging below expectations in this
regards using secondary data sourced from International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United
Nations Statistical Divisions (UNSTAT), among others. From the analytical perspective, the chapter
established that the low levels of technological innovations in Africa is one of the major reasons why
the continent remains in the low developmental echelon compared to other regions of the world. Thus,
this chapter submits that adequate efforts should be placed on functional education, health system and
technology related innovation programs. Besides, Africa and indeed all developing world must revamp
their infrastructures, especially transportation, power and communication towards development in the
21st century.

IntroductIon any task done. Technological innovations are often

conceptualized in a general parlance as getting
Technologies have been seen as key tools for higher level of output with same inputs or same
economic growth and development across the level of output with lower level of inputs. This
countries of the world especially the developed denotes a better management/utilization of scarce
ones (UNDP, 2008). Technology is simply viewed resources in the most efficient manner (Córdova,
as the techniques of doing things, while techno- 2009). There are several areas that a country can
logical innovations imply better ways of getting experience technological innovations such as
education, health, security and governance, bank-
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61692-006-7.ch022 ing, transport and communication, among others.

Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Technological Innovations and Africa’s Quest for Development in the 21st Century

There are various forms of technological inno- Another issue of concern for Africa in this
vations (development) such as: Nanotechnology, 21 century, especially given the global melt-
st

Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Information and down where most of the countries in Africa that
Communication Technology (ICT), and so on. are primary export dependent are being further
One of the standpoints of development has been ‘wounded’, is the low level of human capital
the need for developing countries to improve their formation. This is usually witnessed from the low
technological innovations (Ekekwe, 2009). This priorities education and health sectors are given
viewpoint is usually supported by the fact that in Africa. For example, the total expenditure as
most countries that have attained some measures percentage of gross national income (GNI) on edu-
of development followed the path of technological cation was 4.4% in 1980 and did not significantly
innovations, inter alia, as one of the vital tools. change as it remains at 4.9% in 2005. While the
However, the situation in Africa has not been as total health expenditure as percentage of gross
desired. For example, the average growth rate of domestic product (GDP) was 5.6% from 2003 to
total phone per 1000 population in Africa was 2005, and the average proportion of population
6.6 between 2001 and 2006 (African Develop- with access to sanitation was 45% between 2004
ment Bank- AfDB, 2008). While the number of and 2006 (AfDB, 2008; World Bank, 2008b).
internet users per 100 inhabitants in Sub-Saharan Based on the above backdrops, this chapter
Africa (SSA) increased from 1 in 2000 to 3 in explored the level of technological innovations
2006 compared to world average that increased and development in Africa. The specific objectives
from 7 to 18 (UNDP, 2008; World Bank, 2008a). include: to document the extent of technological
In many African countries, most of the innovation in Africa; to relate some development
technological development indicators have not indicators to technological innovations. The
been impressive. As at 2005, the total number of above objectives were achieved using descrip-
telephone (mainline and mobile) subscribers per tive analysis with secondary data sourced from,
1000 persons was 2.8 in Liberia, 7.9 in Guinea- among others, International Telecommunication
Bissau, and 14.4 in Chad. Access to mobile lines Union (ITU), United Nations Statistical Divisions
per 1000 persons was as 5.8 for Ethiopia and 9.2 (UNSTAT), World Bank Trade Indicators, and
for Eritrea. While that of access to the internet per International Financial Statistics (IFS). Ten (10)
1000 persons was 2.1 for Niger, 2.4 in Democratic countries were selected across Africa- two (2)
Republic of Congo (DRC) and 2.7 for Central from five of the regions. They include: Cameroon
African Republic-CAR (World Bank, 2008b). and DRC (Central Africa); Ethiopia and Tanzania
Access to electricity, which is paramount for any (East Africa); Egypt and Morocco (North Africa);
meaningful technological innovation, is not given Lesotho and South Africa (Southern Africa); and
serious attention in most African countries. The Ghana and Nigeria (West Africa). The countries
highest recorded figure on access to electricity were selected based on the two most populated
as percentage of total population in 2006 was countries in each of the regions in order to have
about 75.2% in Gabon. It was as low as 4.3% a fair representation. The selected countries rep-
in Chad and 5.7% in Rwanda. For the rural area resent over 56% of the continent’s population
there is very little access. It was 0.3% in Chad, (UNCTAD, 2008; UNSTAT, 2008).
0.8% in Burkina Faso and Lesotho (World Bank, The rest of the chapter is organized as follows:
2008b). This is a great challenge to technological next to this introductory part is technology and
development given the role of power supply in technological innovations. Development and its
technological revolutions. indicators are in part III, relevance of technological

383
 15 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may
be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage:
[Link]/chapter/technological-innovations-africa-quest-
development/43336?camid=4v1

This title is available in InfoSci-Books, InfoSci-Intelligent Technologies,

Electrical Engineering and Industrial Informatics, Science, Engineering, and
Information Technology, InfoSci-Computer Science. Recommend this product
to your librarian:
[Link]/forms/[Link]?id=43336

Related Content

Current Molecular Technologies for Assessing the Amount of Microbial Pathogens in Oral
Plaque Biofilms
Hans-Peter Horz and Georg Conrads (2010). International Journal of Nanotechnology and Molecular
Computation (pp. 77-93).
[Link]/article/current-molecular-technologies-assessing-
amount/53352?camid=4v1a

Selective Pick-and-Place of Thin Film by Robotic Micromanipulation

Bruno Sauvet, Mohamed Boukhicha, Adrian Balan, Gilgueng Hwang, Dario Taverna, Abhay Shukla and
Stéphane Régnier (2014). Nanotechnology: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1362-
1374).
[Link]/chapter/selective-pick-and-place-of-thin-film-by-robotic-
micromanipulation/102072?camid=4v1a

Molecular Manufacturing: Nano Building Nano

Chris Phoenix (2010). Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Global Diffusion, Economics and Policy (pp.
26-41).
[Link]/chapter/molecular-manufacturing-nano-building-nano/43316?camid=4v1a

Taking the Lead: How the Global South Could Benefit from Climate Finance, Technology
Transfer, and from Adopting Stringent Climate Policies
Adrian Muller (2010). Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Global Diffusion, Economics and Policy (pp.
226-242).
[Link]/chapter/taking-lead-global-south-could/43328?camid=4v1a

View publication stats