We are in the 1770s. The heaviest work that people had to do was through animal traction, wind and water from rivers. Until he discovered steam energy and the life of societies changed radically. The carriages pulled by oxen, punches and horses, the ships propelled by the wind, the windmills, all started to be powered by steam. Overnight, they increased speed, distance and production capacity and no longer depended on nature's whims. Mass industrial production started and thus emerged the First Industrial Revolution - steam-based energy. Two hundred years later, electricity was discovered and the mass production capacity that was already considerable increased even more and it appeared the Second Industrial Revolution - the era of science and production fueled by electricity. And in around 1950, the computer and digital technologies appeared with an enormous impact on people's lives; and emerged the Third Industrial Revolution. Did you stop there? No. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has now appeared since 2016. THE Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0, is a concept developed by the German Klaus Schwab, director and founder of the World Economic Forum. Industry 4.0 tends to be fully automated from systems that combine machines with digital processes.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution thus projects an era of advanced robotics, large-scale automation, Artificial Intelligence, 3D printing, Genetic Engineering, quantum computing, etc ... and 5G. 5G networks are expected to be at least 10 times faster than 4G LTE, eventually becoming 100 times faster. The solutions advanced by the 4th Industrial Revolution and which use all these new technologies have the potential to help countries better respond to the various needs of their citizens. From education to health, from entertainment to digital financial services and more.
The question that remains silent is: to what extent is our country prepared to welcome these new technologies?
First of all, we must resolve the digital gaps that still remain, and that have never been as critical as in the last two quarters of this year, with the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the extinction of the old, previously considered way of life "normal".
The first quarter of 2020 saw a large-scale economic slowdown in our country, as the spread of the new corona virus increased in number and geographic extent. We were forced to close the flights, the flights were long months on land and due to the state of emergency and disaster, millions of people across the country were forced to stay home and socially distant from the others. An immediate increase in network traffic was noted because of the remote work. Online study and the general use of the Internet for all forms of communication, information collection and access to digital services become the norm. Regulators, following the trend worldwide and in Africa have begun to release temporary spectrum to help operators alleviate network congestion, as a direct result of the pandemic. With these rapid changes facilitated to respond to the immediate needs of society during the pandemic, discussions about the digital divide in various areas of the country have become current. Municipalities now feel an increased impact of these gaps, as the pandemic has revealed its deficiencies with regard to digital access. Countries such as the USA, the UK, Germany, Brazil and more have established connectivity goals for those who have remained disconnected in rural areas or excluded even in urban areas due to connectivity costs and other challenges for consumers.
Internet access has been declared a fundamental human right and Covid-19 came to show us how broadband connectivity was vital in responding to this virus, allowing the economy and society to continue to move forward regardless of measures of social distance. . Now, with many countries experiencing the second wave of this pandemic, resilience in connectivity systems takes on added importance. The “new normal” seems to be here, so it is imperative to adapt our way of life and the systems that support it, must evolve very quickly.
That is why advancing quickly and strongly towards the 4th Revolution is of strategic importance for the development of Angola. And the road seems long and full of pitfalls. Internet penetration in Angola was only 22% at the end of December 2019. Therefore, the digital divide in Angola must be tackled immediately and at various levels. Economic, social, governmental and business. With the country endowed with natural resources ranging from oil and gas, minerals and diamonds to arable land, it makes sense that these sectors should be prioritized for such large-scale automation and digitalization that the 4th Revolution advocates. Increasing exports and maintaining production, even when an increase in social distance is required, requires a greater reliance on intelligent machines and operations with smaller players (subsistence farmers, small mining operators, etc.) linked to regional and national supply chains.
The question of human capital remains: the large percentage of young people in the Angolan population and the natural propensity of new generations for the use of digital technologies make Angola a country where the "conversion" to the 4th Revolution is relatively facilitated if one conceives and implements a digital inclusion strategy that goes through the education system not only formal, but also informal in what could be considered a kind of “digital literacy”.
By Celso Malavoloneke, published on MenosFios with the authorization of his press office.
