By Our Reporter
On the 3rd and 4th of July 2019, CryptoSavannah and the Blockchain Association of Uganda, working in collaboration with the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance will host the 2nd edition of the Africa Blockchain Conference at the Kampala Serena Conference Center.
The conference theme “Africa 4.0: Preparing Africa for the 4th Industrial Revolution” will focus on what the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is, what opportunities it presents, what threats it poses and what Africa must do to leverage 4IR for its development. Alongside the conference, will run the “Africa 4.0 Tech Expo,” an experiential journey showcasing the leading technology innovations and applications in Africa. The Conference and Tech Expo will host 3,000 people, comprising the public and private sector, experts and leaders from global technology companies, entrepreneurs, innovators, youth and government representatives. Topics to be discussed include: (i) Africa’s readiness for the 4th Industrial Revolution, (ii) Fintech, payment systems and digital financial services, (iii) The future of work and education, (iv) SDGs and technology for impact.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), also known as Industry 4.0, is a new chapter in human development, that is enabled by extraordinary technology advances, and is fundamentally changing the way we live, work and relate to one another.
These technology advances including Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), Drones and Robotics, among others are merging the physical, digital and biological spheres in ways that create both huge promise and potential peril. The speed,
breadth and depth of 4th Industrial Revolution is forcing us to rethink how countries develop, how organisations create value, and even what it means to be human.
While addressing the press, the CryptoSavannah CEO, and Chairperson of the Africa Blockchain Conference, Kwame Rugunda, explained that the 4th Industrial Revolution is already upon us and rather than waiting to be impacted by it, we must consciously prepare ourselves, our systems, our nations and our posterity for it.
Although Africa has been a late adopter of previous industrial revolutions, the 4th Industrial Revolution presents unique opportunity, where the lack of established systems has become an enabling factor for easier adoption. It is this same opportunity that drove Africa’s recent mobile telephony and mobile money revolutions, where the absence of legacy infrastructure, rather than hampering, instead fostered the explosion of communication and more inclusive banking services.
He added that more global entities are looking at expanding their operations into Africa, and Africa should therefore prepare to receive and fully optimize this interest for its development. “With the right foundation for emerging technologies, we will have already done half the work of attracting the right interest to our nations,” he emphasized.
The President of Sierra Leone, H.E. Julius Maada Bio will attend and deliver the keynote address at the conference, which will be followed by an address by H.E. President Yoweri Museveni, and then a panel discussion with the audience on the conference theme, and how innovation can be harnessed to catalyze Africa’s transformation process.
The 2-day conference will host speakers and panelists from Uganda, Kenya and several African nations as well as others from Europe, the United States and Asia. It will also feature one of the largest tech exhibitions which will showcase the different unique technology innovations and developments and is garnered to be a highlight of its own.