William Jackson, MAT, CEO MetaverseWP, Metaverse Education Program Director for World Metaverse Council and Technology Education Program Director for One Africa Forum
Part 1 of a multi-part sharing how Africa can be part of the Next Big Thing with the integration of technology, blending of creativity, innovation, and imagination.
As the world is buzzing with excitement and anticipation about seemingly unlimited potential in creativity, innovation, and the blending of the human desire to expand human existence. Africa must be included in the technological expansion of the human mind and intellect. Attending the Google Cloud Next Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, approximately 35,000 attending in the 3 day event, from countries around the world. Presentations were made by President of Nvidia Jenson Huang, and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google Cloud Division speaking about the current and future evolution of technology being used by hundreds of global technology companies of all sizes.
I’m unsure of any that were from African nations, but I hope there were. The world is in an ever-expanding ecosystem of digital access, implementation, inspiration, and adaptation where AI, Web Development, VR, AR, and other technologies are blending, collaborating, and changing the way the world deals with the enormous amounts of data being generated and required by AI, Metaverse and Web 3 programs.
There has never been a more stimulating time in technological evolution that will inspire the human mind to be imaginative, inspired, and empowered. The world is experiencing one of the most significant shifts in history. This is not just AI creating entirely new ways to solve problems, build collaborations, encourage global cooperation to address social, environmental, and economic issues. Businesses that are incorporating more technology to be used by their employees into their business structures can engage with global customers, work more efficiently, and train their current employees to magnify their creative abilities and imagination to help build communities, cultures and nations thrive by solving challenges collectively.
Businesses can empower their employees with tools that assist them to be efficient with time, to see new ways to address and prepare for challenges before they become problems and allow people of diverse cultures to work together in respect and appreciate cultural backgrounds and experiences that are a benefit and empowering.
There is a new way to support sustainability with technology and tech can be a building block for the 17 Sustainability Development Goals of the United Nations https://youtu.be/jjLgA3UAaCQ the benefits of tech can help build better ecosystems.
The culture of innovation and the drive for efficiency will empower businesses of all sizes to do their best work across the continents, especially Africa where technology infrastructures are expanding and providing new ways to connect across the continent.
Africa is the youngest of the 7 continents, its medium age fluctuates between 18.8 years and 25.6 years of age (https://www.statista.com/statistics/). The age of discovery, exploration, a time of great influences to be better, to want better and more innovative and creative ideas.
Technology can be a great equalizer, it can provide collaborations to create, build, develop, and incorporate the blending of cultures that encompass Africa. New businesses can be created, small business owners supported, empowered, and African entrepreneurs can see their potential to improve their economic levels. There are new doors to financial stability and growth being business owners of multiple levels and entrepreneurs.
Digital tools like Google Workspace can provide innovative tools to allow Africans separated by borders, boundaries and even languages to collaborate, and create using tools already available. Africans already have powerful digital tools as Gmail, Google Chat, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Meet and many more. AI (Gemini) is being embedded to empower and inspire productivity, efficient use of information and the power to build continental collaboratives as never before.
We are in a growing AI-driven and algorithm directed world and education must adapt to move from the traditional educational models of lecture to project-based learning, hands-on project development that is being used by companies like MetaverseWP who are teaching and building metaverse sites for African companies in Nigeria, Uganda, South Sudan, and Kenya. Elementary, and higher education students are being directed to digital projects that build digital skills and self-confidence.
As I build this writing and others to come it is important to know that increased collaborations need to be created. Partnerships between business and education need to be broadened and students need to be guided and mentored to how technological achievements and advancements can benefit their growth and development even while they are matriculating through their school years. African students across the spectrum and ecosystems of educational models will be transformed with AI (Gemini) that’s ready to meet the demands for access to information, the sharing of information using AI and the blending of data insights that build and reinforce innovation.
Google Cloud Next ’24 – https://cloud.withgoogle.com/next