Africa and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Defining a Role for Research Universities
Introduction
The world is being ushered into a new industrial future, which is
set to change in a fundamental way, how people live daily. The Fourth Industrial
Revolution will be fundamentally different from earlier industrial revolutions
in its scope and complexity, as well as its scale. The rate, depth and breadth
of the likely transformations promise to be breathtaking and disruptive to all
industries everywhere, especially for their production systems, management as
well as governance. It is not clear how
its future will look, but clues about
what will shape winners or losers are emerging. Clearly innovation is
critical, but so also is the constant restating of shared values that safeguard
our common humanity. One thing is certain; the future will be like nothing the
world has seen before. To make the most of it will require coordinated effort
of all stakeholders, including the public and private sectors, academia and
industry, as well as civil society.