Ethiopia’s drive to transfer knowledge, skills and technology and build up the capacity of citizens to innovation is progressing well and bearing promising outcomes in all aspects.
Mainly following the Home Grown Economic Reform devised to transform country’s economy and achieve sustainable growth through embracing emerging technologies and transferring knowledge and skills, it has been possible to witness outstanding progresses.
Through this move, Ethiopia has made important strides in building its digital foundations, advancing citizens’ technological capacities and reinforcing their innovative and entrepreneurial skills that are central for the social and economic development of the country.
For instance, following the efforts carried out to make the journey to “Digital Ethiopia” a success; amazing creative works that wowed everyone with admiration were made. The well-known humanoid robot Sophia and the other one created recently, Desta, can be mentioned as best showcased. Both of the works, whose operating systems were developed by the active engagement of young Ethiopians, have captured the attention of many people and inspired young people to follow suit.
More notably, the development of the robots has shown off Ethiopia’s steady progress in the area and Ethiopians’ potential to embrace emerging technologies and their determination to go along with such transformative forces amidst challenges.
Just the same, the new project dubbed as “Startup Ethiopia” is also the other platform that can build the transformative and entrepreneurial skills of the young people and it is an action that fosters their problem-solving abilities as young people are the future innovators and entrepreneurs who drive economic growth and development.
In the same way, the Space Science and Geo-Spatial Institute (SSGI) has lately announced that preparation for the second Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite (ETRSS- 2) project, which aims to develop satellites with a resolution of up to 0.5 meters is finalized. According to the Institute, when the satellite is put into practice it will have a meaningful contribution to the mapping of cities and create an opportunity to obtain information that is more accurate than what is currently provided by the satellite information service.
Not only in the robotic and satellite areas, Ethiopia’s initiative to transfer knowledge and skills by applying artificial intelligence technology is also producing successful results in other areas including agriculture, finance, and other sectors.
It is true in today’s rapidly advancing world, technology transfer, innovation and developing entrepreneurship skills among the youth have paramount importance and play irreplaceable roles to cope with the changing environment, address socio-economic challenges, accelerate economic growth and pave the way for a prosperous future.
As Innovation and Technology Minister Belete Molla stated at the sixth African Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Forum underway at UNECA Headquarter, science, technology, and innovation are not silver bullets, but they are powerful tools that can help Africans to overcome their development challenges.
To this effect establishing a strong foundation for science, technology, and innovation is not only necessary but also mandatory.
With this in mind, Ethiopia has been taking a number of activities to create a conducive environment that is decisive for technology transfer and to foster innovation. In turn, the country has benefited significantly from utilizing the technology. However, in this ever changing world, to attune with the change, Ethiopia should further strengthen its infrastructure, and work committedly to harness the benefit accordingly.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL 2024
