The World Trade Organization (WTO) Chairs Programme in the TRADE research entity (Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences) at the North-West University (NWU) has published a new book on Africa’s digital future.
The book, titled Africa’s digital future: From theory to action, makes an important and timely contribution to the literature on Africa, exploring the many opportunities and challenges that the continent faces in a world characterised by accelerating technological change.
Edited by Prof Wilma Viviers, Ali Parry and Dr Adelia Jansen van Rensburg, the book has been published in an online format by AOSIS, the open-access publisher that hosts a wide range of journals and independent publications on its platform. The book is therefore freely available to anyone who wishes to read it online or download a copy. Get your copy here.
The overarching question that Africa’s digital future addresses is whether African countries have the foresight, resources and motivation to leverage the considerable power of digital technologies to transform their economies in sustainable and inclusive ways.
The book comprises 10 chapters that examine a wide range of topics that are central to Africa’s growth and development prospects – industrialisation, global and regional value chains, transport and logistics, trade facilitation, labour-market dynamics, employment, education, policies and regulations, and more – all through a digital lens, with digital trade forming the backdrop to several of the chapters.
These chapters are:
Chapter 1: Headwinds and tailwinds in digital trade: Can Africa navigate the storm?
Chapter 2: Economic development and industrialisation in the digital era: Where does Africa stand?
Chapter 3: Can digital trade promote greater employment? Empirical evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
Chapter 4: Digital technologies, employment and labour-market polarisation in Africa
Chapter 5: Leveraging global value chains and digital technologies to strengthen Africa’s industrial base
Chapter 6: Mobilising tax revenues in the digital era: Challenges for Sub-Saharan Africa?
Chapter 7: Digital technologies: Benefits for transport and trade facilitation in Africa
Chapter 8: Protecting Africa’s digital future through effective regulation
Chapter 9: Rethinking Africa’s education ecosystem: Why all economic sectors need to be digitally responsive
Chapter 10: Turning theory into action: The power is in Africa’s hands
Other trade experts who contributed chapters to the book are Prof Peet Strydom, Dr Marie-Luce Kühn, Dr Emmanuel Orkoh, Prof Sonja Grater, Prof Alwyn Hoffman and Biandri Joubert – all of whom are members of the extended research network of the NWU, the WTO Chairs Programme and the TRADE research entity.
The steady encroachment of automation, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and other digital technologies into people’s lives has attracted much research interest around the world. However, few publications (until now) have delved deeply and thoroughly into the implications of digitalisation for Africa specifically, and into what countries on the continent need to do to chart a steady course into the future.
Written in an engaging style that will appeal to a wide audience, Africa’s digital future combines academic rigour with reflective policy-related commentary, emphasising the need for Africa to realistically consider its future while not forgetting its past. The word “action” in the title is intended to convey a sense of urgency and to emphasise that Africa needs to own its future if it is to benefit from it.
Get your copy of Africa’s digital future: From theory to action here.
For more information about the publication, contact Prof Wilma Viviers at wilma.viviers@nwu.ac.za.
