Verticals

Backing African-baked innovation

In order for everyone to enjoy the benefits of digital innovation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we need to focus on the efficient utilisation of resources, says the CSIR’s Dr Fisseha Mekuria.

26 July 2020

In 1993, a seed was planted in Dr Fisseha Mekuria’s mind. The Ethiopia- born researcher was finishing up his Ph.D in Sweden when he heard Nelson Mandela’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Mandela called on Africans to make the region a ‘living example of what all people of conscience would like the world to be’. We must devote what remains of our lives to showcasing ‘that the normal condition for human existence is democracy, justice, peace, non-racism, non-sexism, prosperity for everybody, a healthy environment and equality and solidarity among the peoples’. Merkuria was instantly inspired to return to his African roots. But it would take several years before he made the move and took up a role at one of Africa’s leading scientific and technology research, development and implementation organisations – the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research or CSIR.

Currently working as chief researcher in the CSIR Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions Cluster, Mekuria is heeding Mandela’s call to support African evolution by supporting mobile development across the continent. His research focuses on broadband communication and wireless spectrum development. “We’re developing technologies to make broadband more affordable so that we can connect rural and underserved communities,” he says. In Africa, and in other emerging economies, more and more of the connectivity technologies are wireless. “But spectrum is a superhighway. And, much like a regular highway, when the number of users increases, you get congestion.”

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