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Digital World

Digital Africa

November 1, 2018

This film could turn our image of Africa upside down: Creative start-ups, from Nairobi to Kumasi, are developing technical innovations that are inspiring the world.

https://p.dw.com/p/37X4V
Afrika, Elfenbeinküste, Digitalisierung durch das Smartphone
Image: Getty Images/I.Sanogo

This film could turn our image of Africa upside down: mobile payments in remote villages, drones monitoring harvests, 3D printers that deliver spare parts and reduce electronic waste, and robots that direct traffic. Creative start-ups, from Nairobi to Kumasi, are developing technical innovations that are inspiring the world.

Transactions made by text message, fields monitored by drones, and traffic regulated by robots. The film "Digital Africa - A Continent Reinventing Itself" challenges what we think we know about Africa. From Nairobi to Kumasi, from Kenya to Ghana, start-ups in Africa’s high-tech hubs have been coming up with inspiring technological novelties.

This documentary explores the innovative power of the African continent, and meets the entrepreneurs, developers and high-tech professionals in Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana behind it all. We visit innovation centers and start-ups that give slum dwellers access to green gas, build robust tablets for schools, or put together lab kits for future engineers and programmers. African inventors present apps that provide access to doctors or prepare educational content for children, regardless of where the user lives. Start-ups is Africa are also experimenting with the blockchain technology currently hyped in Europe.

Mobile charging stations with internet access are helping reduce supply problems in rural villages, and 3D printers built locally from e-waste are printing out medical equipment that then no longer needs to be purchased at sky-high prices in the Global North. This film shows an innovative and creative Africa that - until now - Europe has hardly taken notice of.

 

Broadcasting Hours: 

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WED 12.12.2018 – 19:15 UTC
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TUE 25.12.2018 – 09:15 UTC

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THU 13.12.2018 – 09:15 UTC
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