The twenty-eighth World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF Africa) will focus on inclusive growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), with discussions aimed at finding ways to achieve sustainable growth in a country with high levels of inequality, corruption and unemployment.

This was indicated at a pre-WEF Africa press conference, held at IBM Research Africa, in Johannesburg, on Monday.

WEF Africa head Elsie Kanza emphasised that 4IR needed to be embedded in humanity, and said the meeting, to be held in Cape Town from September 4 to 6, would explore how this could be implemented on the continent.

An integral part of this would be to explore opportunities for upskilling and reskilling, she noted.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni commented that Industry 4.0 was a dynamic process and said the country would have to adapt accordingly, in a perpetual manner, rather than being ready for a fixed state.

In this vein, Kanza noted that there were some areas in 4IR where the country was making great strides and was leading, such as with the use of civilian drones.

Perhaps the best example of technological progress in the country was the arrival of a quantum computer at IBM, in a partnership between the company and Wits. This marks the first in quantum computer in Africa, and it was showcased at the IBM premises following the press conference.

Built on the principles of quantum mechanics, quantum computers take a new approach to processing information.

Quantum computers can run new types of algorithms to potentially solve previously “unsolvable” problems in optimisation chemistry and machine learning.

IBM Research Africa research scientist Ismail Yunus Akhalwaya enthused that this was an area the country could be proud of, as it is involved cutting edge research and technology, and further, was using this in a localised context to solve problems in the country.

He highlighted that several use cases for the computer in this regard were being pursued.

Firstly, in pharmaceuticals, to develop medicine for African diseases, which were not on the agenda globally.

Secondly, while the country’s natural resource of the desert is being used to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the computer can augment this by allowing the processing and interpretation of the data to be done in the region as well. This will have spin off benefits for the continent.

To jump-start the learning and community building process for quantum computing, IBM Q will be hosting an invite-only Qiskit Camp in South Africa in December for 200 researchers and computer scientists to experience hands on training. Interested developers are encouraged to nominate themselves for attendance.

WEF AFRICA
WEF Africa will convene 1 1 00 leaders from government, business and civil society, including ten heads of States or government.

A key point of the agenda at WEF Africa will be new partnerships to create sustainable employment for Africa’s large and growing workforce.

WEF Africa will focus on improving the funding and regulatory environment for start-ups; identifying opportunities for green growth such as the circular economy; increasing commerce for rapid business growth; and leveraging the new Africa Continent Free Trade Agreement to drive regional integration.

With regard to the free trade Aareement, Mboweni enthused that this presented the biggest opportunity for South Africa, owing to its industrial capacity, which will benefit greatly through producing and exporting manufactured goods to the rest of the continent.

Mboweni mentioned that WEF Africa was not a consultative meeting or an area for exchanging ideological positions, but a meeting to exchange ideas and discuss the state of the global, African and local economies.

In this regard, he highlighted that global trade tensions, especially between the US and China, were hampering markets globally, and this would be explored at the conference, and hopefully, the concerns would be heard in Washington.

WEF Africa will also see the launch of several new initiatives.

This includes The Africa Growth Platform, a coalition of governments and investors aiming to fast-track development of the region’s most promising start-up enterprises and SMMEs, to facilitate their growth and assist them in competing internationally.

There will also be the Africa Risk Resilience Platform, which will assist government in prepare, mitigating and preventing climate and disease-related disasters the support of the private sector.

Moreover, the launch of the Africa e-commerce Agenda, a partnership between governments, the international trade community and the development community to create three million jobs by 2025.