Building A Smarter Africa – one city at a time Russell SouthwoodCEO, Balancing Actwww.balancingact-africa.com@balancingactafr

The Human Factor and Leapfrogging

Smart cities – Can Africa leapfrog its current city problems by introducing Smart City technologies?

You can leapfrog technologies but not human behavior, culture and processes

If the analogue services are not there, you can’t retrofit smart digital solutions

Attitudes to maintenance – the economy of waste

Cities as the engines of wealth creation Africa’s population to double by 2050. 80% of that growth will

be in cities. 5 fastest growing cities: Lagos (77 people per hour);

Kinshasa (61 people per hour); Cairo (44 people per hour); Luanda (43 people per hour) and Ougadougou (23 people per hour)

Lagos’ Makoko – slum on the water of 250,000 people. Khayeltisha, Cape Town: around 400,000; 40% under 19 years old. Mathare, Nairobi: 500,000

But cities are places that generate wealth and employment

What makes a livable city? Dynamic city economy that generates jobs Clean, green and sustainable Inclusive – Everybody gets to be part of it and is looked after Engaged – Everyone involved in planning what the city will

be Able to move easily around the city Creative and learning – Bubbles with ideas and values

education Safe and attractive public spaces to meet and linger in Whatever your income level, enjoyable to live in

Getting the infrastructure right Connectivity – Reliablefibre everywhere andpervasive Wi-Fi hotSpots, cheap or free Transport – Mass Transit systems (Nairobi,Joburg, Addis Ababa) Energy and Utilities Service delivery Low cost housing

Innovation and the Creative City Innovation in the public sector at State and city level Partnerships between private sector and city (IBM, Ericsson,

Huawei) IBM Research: Abidjan and Nairobi mobile data Partnerships between start-up sector and city: Accra Trotro

Apps Challenge – MEST and Accra Metropolitan Assembly. Data on 300 active routes. ccHub #BuildforMyCity hackathon in Abuja

Partnerships between academia and the city Creative cities: Lagos, Cairo, Cape Town But not just about production but how the city looks and feels

The Underlying Tech Architecture Municipal Wi-Fi? – Free hot-spots - Knysna; Tshwane

(Project Isizwe) Open data and frameworks to use city data (eg transport,

services, budgets) Feedback mechanisms (citizens able to say what they think

of service and something gets done) – BudgIT; Search for Common Ground (SMS reporting on Police in Liberia); Yowzit, South Africa (rating public services)

Access points for students (universities, colleges and schools); for low income citizens through libraries and citizen service delivery points

Co-working spaces and incubators for tech and creatives

Inclusion – Digital + Analogue World Bank World Development Report 2016 Digital Dividends –

Findings:” When the analog complements are absent, the development impact will be disappointing. But when countries build a strong analog foundation, they will reap ample digital dividends—in faster growth, more jobs, and better services.”

Hudumu Centres, Nairobi: A random visit to the Nairobi Huduma Centre for IT support in filling out tax return forms revealed the demand for services is much greater than the supply – 250 citizens and only 3 desks to provide the service. It was worse at the Identification cards platform, where there were 400 citizens and only 5 desks”.

Girls Coding teaching young girls in Makoko. Bandwidth Barn facility in Kayalitsha

Smart City elements that might work Kigali Smart Bus Initiative – Collection of cash and “revenue

leakage” Bus arrivals data City identity and payments systems Street lighting – Reduce energy by 80% if combine LED

replacement bulbs with network controlled monitoring CCTV and security Distributed power through micro-grids (connected by IoT)