[kictanet] The role of the "open" in innovation in Africa

[Ahmed Mohamed Maawy]

If we follow closely the topic of BlockChain we may stumble upon a blog post
<http://bithub.co.ke/2016/05/15/the-blockchain-opportunity-in-africa-ideas-concepts-implementation/>
by BitHub Africa with the following excerpt:

*Make no mistake Bitcoin and its underlying Blockchain technology will
disrupt the current financial order that currently has Banking institutions
sitting at the top of the food chain. Incumbents who fail to understand and
implement strategies risk being rendered irrelevant akin to the manner in
which Kodak was rendered irrelevant by the advent of Digital Cameras.
Indeed Kenyan Banks have already had a taste of this with the arrival in
2004 of M-Pesa the Mobile Money platform that revolutionized the way
Kenyans transfer money and pay for services within the country. Already it
is estimated that 40% of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Platform is transacted on
this platform. Banks and other financial institutions will need to evolve
once again to keep up with this global trend.*

A good discussion to have is how can Open Technologies boost the adoption
of technology and even enhance innovation in the eco-system? I think
Microsoft also adopting Openness (Open Source Technology Development) is a
huge statement on the potential open technology has to the future of
innovation.

This topic is broad. And BlockChain is just one small player in the
eco-system of open services and open source products.

The question we may ask is how do we as an African demographic and the
leaders of the Technology eco-system educate and promote the potential open
technologies (be they open source applications, or open services, etc) to
boost the next generation of technology innovators?

I would love to see this lead to the setup of an Open Source Advocacy Forum
/ Group or something. :)

-- 
*Ahmed Maawy*
Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
Ambassador - Open Knowledge
Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
(KE) +254 714 960 627
Skype: ultimateprogramer

swahilibox.co.ke
www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>
startupgrind.com
ajplus.net
www.everylayer.com
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