In my past blog entries I have focused on different types of innovation in Africa. However, an important condition for innovation to flourish in a given country, is infrastructure. It is a well known fact that countries with good (public) transport systems, energy and sanitation systems have better economic performance and less poverty. Hence, infrastructure is a necessary condition for a country to flourish – economically and socially.
Unfortunately, the infrastructure gap in Africa is large. As a report issued by Milken Institute (Link: http://www.milkeninstitute.org/publications/view/709) states, the biggest infrastructure deficit is in the power sector, leaving more than 60% of Africans without access to electricity. But the good news is, that currently there are a lot of investments going on to improve infrastructure in many countries in Africa. According to Brookings Blog (Link: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2015/01/22-infrastructure-foresight-africa-gutman) there are six important priorities to keep in mind when talking about building up efficient and effective infrastructure in Africa. It sure seems like there really are some important lessons to be learned here – Read more here (Link: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2015/01/22-infrastructure-foresight-africa-gutman)
inventiveafrica.com 