New technologies give Africa best opportunity to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals

9 November 2017

Africa could achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals by adopting new and emerging technologies, materials and processes which would help accelerate economic growth, according to a new report prepared for the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa.

The report, "Toward Smart and Integrated Infrastructure for Africa", encourages Africa not to repeat the technological mistakes made by other regions in the world when developing new infrastructure, and recommends the continent 'leapfrog' to new technologies, including green and digital technologies.

The report was presented to participants at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA), which took place in Rome, Italy, on 20 October 2017 and was co-chaired by the Government of Italy, as current chair of the G7, and the African Development Bank.

The report urges African nations to work together to grasp the opportunity created by emerging technologies to break new frontiers and create an enabling environment for infrastructure development that would result in a transformative change, supercharging the continent's economic and social development.

By building sustainable, smart, high quality, integrated infrastructure using new and emerging technologies, materials and processes, Africa's economic and social development would receive a major boost, helping the continent to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Commissioned for the ICA by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the report was authored and edited by the Politecnico di Milano and the Politecnico di Torino. The full report is available to view and download from the Knowledge and Publications section of the ICA website.

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