ITWeb: IBM wants innovation for Africa

The local arm of technology giant IBM is hungry for more African investment, which will be driven out of the South African office.

The company has placed a large emphasis on the African market over the last two years, investing $120 million in those operations. “IBM has an innovation agenda, which we plan on taking through to the rest of Africa with our partners and clients,” says newly-appointed IBM SA CTO Clifford Foster.

He says the company is best placed to drive the concept through its African Innovation Centre (AIC), based in Johannesburg. Foster says IBM SA, as the headquarters of Sub-Saharan Africa, will be responsible for driving growth in the area.

“This traditionally was handled by the company's European divisions, and will now be taken on locally.”

IBM will implement AIC concepts at the University of Nairobi, setting up a laboratory there by early 2009, and possibly in one or two other African countries, such as Nigeria, later in the year.

Big Brother?

Foster says one of the focuses for this year will be to promote IBM's concept of the “smart planet”.

The idea is to have all the available devices with function and value connected. “There are many field devices in the world at the moment, acting individually. Mobile phones, traffic cameras and RFID tags are all being used for their own specific implementations.”

Foster says the idea is to link these devices through the growing infrastructures available locally and in Africa and drive intelligence between them. He points to a case in Stockholm, where the city is using traffic cameras and monitoring systems to reroute traffic. “It has been extremely successful.”

According to Foster, systems like this will become more valuable in Africa as the countries' economies grow. He says one application could be in SA for the coming 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Smart approach

Foster admits the continued global economic situation has curbed spending; the applications of the “smart planet” need not be promoted as a commercial venture. He adds that the concept can be used in various projects, including monitoring of water systems, electricity supplies – specifically with the ever-present electricity shortage locally.

“Emerging markets will still need to spend money on fixing the issues they have. In SA, for example, people will have to spend money to fix the electricity crisis and why not spend it on a solution that will help make smart decisions and make better use of the resources we have?”

According to Foster, these concepts can be tailored to suit whatever problem, or business process that needs to be addressed.

The company is also approaching the African market with a more culturally sensitive hand, adds Foster. “It is no longer acceptable to go to Africa with a South African ideal. We are looking to leave behind things like skills transfer and working with countries to promote innovation that will work for each place.”

Original article