Overview
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform business and government in Africa, driving entrepreneurship, enable innovation and deploy green technologies critical for an effective, long-term global response to climate change and promoting economic growth and sustainable development.
ICTs also have a complex relationship with sustainability and with the underlying cause of climate change. In particular the CO2 emissions from the production, use and disposal of communications equipment and services, accounts for between 2 and 2.5% of global emissions.
On the other hand, an efficient diffusion and deployment of technology has the potential to mitigate the adverse impacts of greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Although the role of technology transfer in reducing emissions is widely recognized, effective wide-scale transfer has been hindered by a number of factors, including international property rights regimes.
Technology transfer in the global context commonly relates to the sale or licensing of intellectual property, but the concept involves any mechanism that allows consumers in one country to access and use technology created in another country.
How can African countries take a strategic approach to benefit from green technologies and reflect these technologies to the local context that technology is not just hardware. It also fundamentally encompasses knowledge, expertise and experience for generating and managing technical change critical in facilitating these green technologies in Africa.
Speakers
- Gilles Vermot-Desroches, Sustainability Chief Officer and Institutional Affairs & BOP SVP, Schneider Electric.
- Ethel Coffie, ICT entrepreneur and founder of Women in Tech Africa, TBC
- Dr. Martin Oteng-Ababio
- Erias Lukwago, Mayor of Kampala, Ouganda
- Kevin Ossah, OJEDD Togo
- Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communication
Moderators
- Bernard Soulage, Secretary General of Climate Chance Association.
- Dr. Divine Odame Appiah, Senior Lecturer/Research SOcial and Environmental Management Expert, WASCAL.