Africa has become a hub for innovation and digital communications. What technologies are out there and are they improving access to education and infrastructure?
Rory Cellan-Jones has been a reporter for the BBC for more than two decades, covering business and technology stories for much of that time.
Professor Nicholas Negroponte, Founder and Chairman
Nicholas Negroponte is an internet pioneer, author, and man of grand visions including One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) a non-profit organisation to bring low-cost computing and education to the poorest regions of the world.
Erik Hersman, Co-Founder of Ushahidi, Afrigadget and iHub – Nairobi’s innovation hub
Erik Hersman is a key member of the African blog revolution including AfriGadget and WhiteAfrican.
Herman Chinery-Hesse, Founder and Chairman, theSOFTtribe, Ghana.
Professor Tim Unwin, Professor of Geography and UNESCO Chair in ICT4D.
Ken Banks, Technologist, anthropologist Tech Awards Laureate 2009.
Trevor Baylis OBE, Inventor of the wind-up radio
Trevor Baylis’ varied career has seen him swimming for Great Britain, a stunt man and a circus performer in Berlin, before eventually focusing on his gift for inventing. In 1985 Trevor invented and developed a range of products for the disabled called Orange Aids.
Lord Paul Boateng, Former High Commissioner to South Africa
Lord Paul Boateng is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Brent South from 1987 to 2005, becoming the UK’s first black Cabinet Minister in May 2002, when he was appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
ForgetMeNot Africa
ForgetMeNot Africa’s platform aims to bridge the digital divide for Africans by providing internet messaging on even the most basic mobile phone. An eTXT is a message which can be sent and received seamlessly as an SMS, an email, chat or Facebook message on any carriers network via SMS. No need for downloads to the phone, internet, PC access or a change in user behaviour.