The African School of Economics (ASE) has struck a partnership with leading universities in the continent to launch Africa’s first-ever “5G Mokki Tech Space”, which is aimed at facilitating a “network of immersive digital learning and remote work environments connected via fifth-generation mobile communication technology.”
The Director of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Cosmas Zavazava, who highlighted the potentials of the 5G network in learning and innovation environments, said the programme was tailored towards the development of new products and services to local requirements.
He added that in addition to ASE campuses in Benin Republic and Ivory Coast, the modular tech spaces would take ASE’s presence to remote areas, “helping local communities leapfrog access to high-technology education, remote job creation and digital entrepreneurship.”
“The satellite model of the ASE’s tech spaces can help prevent various African regions and remote areas from falling behind in, for example, the innovation and acceleration of products and services powered by artificial intelligence,” Zavazava said.
According to him, the 5G Mokki is a modular high-tech unit for developing software applications that require ultra-fast internet connections to render immersive, three-dimensional (3D) virtual-reality (VR) and augmented-reality (AR) learning environments, as well as to deliver innovation services and remote work from and to any location in the world.
“The tech spaces enable new types of trans-continental studies combining technology and business.
“We are currently in partnership with Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, the University of Lusaka in Zambia, as well as Aalto University and LUT University in Finland.
“The ASE 5G Mokki Tech Space was also announced at the occasion of the 5G Seasonal School which is being held simultaneously in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Zambia this week,” he said.
Professor Leonard Wantchekon, founder of the African School of Economics and a Visiting Professor at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, also emphasized that Africa needs innovation in education to create talent and jobs.
“The accelerator network consists of world-leading universities, companies, and not-for-profit organizations including Ambitious Africa, an initiative bringing African and Nordic youth together to take Africa to the next level.
“The 5G Mokkis provide an opportunity for international corporations to tap into highly skilled, young African talent, not only to deliver remote work but also to spur innovation.
“The accelerator network consists of world-leading universities, companies, and not-for-profit organizations including Ambitious Africa, an initiative bringing African and Nordic youth together to take Africa to the next level,” Wantchekon added.