ICT Innovation & Digitalization

Bridging the digital divide in the rural developing communities is one of the most important challenging tasks for the Base of the Pyramid market (BoP). There is no doubt that the digital divide is further accentuating both social and economic inequalities among the rural communities and the urban elite. The absence of technology in the world of mobile technology is no longer an excuse. Our position in DevGRAD is to fetch digital technologies that can be adapted to the rural African communities tailored to their various enterprises. An efficient communication infrastructure that is accessible by everyone is an important location factor and forms the basis for the digital transformation economy and society. We aim in this regard, to develop a knowledge platform through which information is exchanged for the benefits of the rural community.

Through this platform, DevGRAD aims to engage professionals and organization in the North in collaboration with the Diaspora professionals to harness the benefits associated with BIG DATA and OPEN DATA and development of open data initiatives in developing projects tailored to their needs in the South. We collaborate with organizations in the North in finding digital solutions and funding opportunities in deploying the digital technologies to the developing community. Our expectation is that subsistence farmers for instance, through the availability of basic data on weather variability and planting time will be more efficient and hence transformed to market- connected entrepreneurs. Developing data innovation and entrepreneurship in our thematic focus is thus, necessary in the development of methodology through which data can be translated into useful knowledge in the language the rural understand while ensuring digital inclusion.