Synapse - Africa’s 4IR Trade & Innovation Magazine - 1st Quarter 2021 Issue 11

Page 52

REPORT

AFRICA COULD BENEFIT $2-BILLION A YEAR FROM EARTH OBSERVATION, HERE’S HOW Could Earth Observation (EO) be one of the most valuable assets on which Africa can rely on? A report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January in collaboration with Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) suggests that the socioeconomic benefits of EO in Africa could be higher than $2-billion a year.

T

he report, which is titled “Unlocking the Potential of Earth Observation to address Africa’s critical challenges” can be accessed here, examines the economic potential of the DE Africa programme, which provides a platform to help translate EO into freely accessible data. DE Africa is the world’s largest open data cube, encompassing a land area of over 30-million square kilometres. The programme provides valuable insights into a range of issues, from water and agriculture, to urbanisation and deforestation. DE Africa said in a statement in January that the report was developed following extensive examination of the readiness of African countries to effectively and efficiently grow their geospatial capabilities, integrated with careful study of the economic benefit of EO data adoption on specific sustainable development focus areas. The report estimates that improved use of EO data could lead to an extra $500-million in yearly EO sales along with new job opportunities and increased revenue. Better data, the report’s authors point

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SYNAPSE | 1ST QUARTER 2021

out, could potentially be worth an extra $900-million a year thanks to water savings, productivity gains from farmers, and reduced pesticide usage. EO could lead to better regulation of mining activity, with data enabling countries to track unregulated mining. The report states that EO data could lead to potential savings of at least $900-million from reduced environmental damage and fiscal evasion. DE Africa Programme managing director Dr Adam Lewis said the initiative

has through collaboration with key partners within Africa and around the world made “significant progress” in turning this potential into a reality. “We are already seeing the benefits of EO in Africa. In Tanzania for example, the National Bureau of Statistics has been able to use the data to analyse water changes over time for Lake Sulunga, leading to better decisions for the populations living around the lake,” added Dr Lewis. Benedict Mugambi, who’s the Head of Geographic Information Systems at the National Bureau of Statistics, has been monitoring the the water extent of the Lake Sulunga using the DE Africa Water Observation from Space (WoFs) analysis ready data service. The insights gained from this analysis are helping to inform evidence based policy decisions to support the communities living around the banks of the lake. “Digital Earth Africa gives us the data and evidence to make better policies about how communities can use land and water for the best environmental and economic outcomes. But to be fully effective we must find a way to share the results with local people,” said Mugambi. ai


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WEBB FONTAINE TO OPEN AI R&D CENTRE IN AFRICA

1min
page 49

ALTRON BECOMES SA’S FIRST NPN COMPUTE DGX PARTNER

1min
page 49

Synthesis to open local office in Mauritius

1min
page 57

How much are SA mines investing annually in digital technologies?

4min
pages 54-55

Need for legal & regulator frameworks for AI governance in Africa: UNESCO

2min
page 56

AI tool developed to identify informal settlements

2min
page 53

InstaDeep, BioNTech partner to develop novel immunotherapies

2min
page 50

Africa could benefit $2-billion per year from Earth Observation

2min
page 52

WEF launches Global AI Action Alliance

2min
page 51

Introducing MLCommons

4min
pages 46-47

AfyaRekod, IndygeneUS partner on health data platform

1min
page 48

Servicetrace to train 100 Kenyan developers in RPA

1min
page 44

Bantu language spellchecker, Android keyboard launched

1min
page 45

ITU launches open research group on autonomous networks

2min
page 43

Wits, York University launch Africa-Canada AI & Public Health Data Consortium

3min
pages 36-37

IBM launches Digital4Agriculture initiative

4min
pages 40, 42

2020 Space-tech Innovation Challenge Winners

2min
page 38

Wits could spawn the next tech giant. New VC explains how

6min
pages 31-32

Kenya’s AICE to train 1000 AI engineers in 3 years

4min
pages 33-34

Envisionit Deep AI scoops two categories at AppsAfrica awards

1min
page 21

How AI is taking on locust swarms in East Africa

3min
pages 28, 30

Lacuna Fund invests in African agricultural datasets for AI

8min
pages 16-18

African projects selected for $10-million data.org challenge

3min
page 12

The Baobab Network joins The Deal Room

2min
page 6

3.2% increase in funding raised by African AI/IoT startups

1min
page 14

UP launches Engineering 4.0 facility

4min
pages 19, 24

Ghana’s OZÉ raises $700k seed round

1min
page 13

Gro Intelligence raises $85-million Series B round

2min
page 8

SA’s Aerobotics raises $17-million to scale AI for agriculture

1min
page 10
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