ICT Park, A spring board for economic empowerment and National development

ICT an acronym for information communication technology has become an everyday word for everyone, but beyond that, our lives in all aspect is affected by innovations, products and services emanating from this industry.

The industry may be subdivided into Information Technology on one hand and Communication on another. The two being twin sisters. An advance in information Technology enriches Communication as well. The modern civilization of today will be a mirage without these two twin sisters. Such advances in turn enrich the following areas:

Health Sector

Aerospace industries

Automotives

Public and governmental affairs

Data management and analysis

Accounting, Agriculture, the food industry, Education. To mention but a few.

What we do know is that countries that has made advances in ICT command economic advantages over others. Countries in neglect of this sector are far behind in both economic progress and human development.

Historical Perspective

Human civilization has witnessed a number of civilization and revolution. There was first The Agricultural revelation, when men started having farms and planting instead of just gathering fruits from nature with human effort in both cultivation and planting. The Agricultural revolution much more enriched the lives of humans but was fueled and driving by human and animal labour. The revolution also saw the massive enslavement of people to help cultivate lands in faraway continents and African provided most of the raw labour that fueled this revolution through the mechanism of slave traders. Then, came the industrial revolution.

The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 1700s, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile industries, along with the development of the steam engine, played central roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved systems of transportation, communication and banking. While industrialization brought about an increased volume and variety of manufactured goods and an improved standard of living for some, it also resulted in often grim employment and living conditions for the poor and working classes.

 The Industrial revolution saw the evolution of massive industries and treadmills. The revolution also saw the sophistication of war machines, travel, shipping, merchandising, building, etc.

What is very interesting is the absence of Africa in all of these revolutions. At best Africa only provided the raw materials that helped propel this great revolutions that changed humanity forever.

Today, we are again witnessing another revolution: The Information age.

The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age) is a period in human history characterized by the shift from traditional industry that the industrial revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on information computerization. The onset of the Information Age is associated with the Digital Revolution, just as the Industrial Revolution marked the onset of the Industrial Age.
During the information age, the phenomenon is that the digital industry creates a knowledge-based society surrounded by a high-tech global economy that spans over its influence on how the manufacturing throughout and the service sector operate in an efficient and convenient way. In a commercialized society, the information industry is able to allow individuals to explore their personalized needs, therefore simplifying the procedure of making decisions for transactions and significantly lowering costs for both the producers and buyers. This is accepted overwhelmingly by participants throughout the entire economic activities for efficacy purposes, and new economic incentives would then be indigenously encouraged, such as the knowledge economy.
The Information Age formed by capitalizing on the computer microminiaturization advances, with a transition spanning from the advent of the personal computer in the late 1970s, to the Internet's, reaching a critical mass in the early 1990s, and the adoption of such technology by the public in the two decades after 1990. This evolution of technology in daily life, as well as educational life style, the Information Age has allowed rapid global communications and networking to shape modern society.

The interesting reality again is Africa is absent. But there is good news; we can change the trend starting from Nigeria. So let’s start looking at what will make that happen; an ICT park.

I will look at an ICT park a little differently from the conventional understanding of a computer village or Silicon Valley or such mega establishments.

An IC park is an environment where critical pools of ICT talents are clustered together with a view of triggering innovation and creativity through Knowledge sharing. The idea of clustering talents is to sharpen knowledge sharing. Where more people randomly share ideas is always a birth place of innovations, inventions and new products; it is therefore a springboard  for entrepreneurship and job creation. So we are looking at a small space, a building may be, spread around the country, equipped with all the necessary facilities to allow just that.

Part of the major facilities the space must have will include:

Broadband internet access

Small office space facilities including open halls with half partitions; generally called open office ( Not shops to sell computers and accessories)

Furniture’s and power supplies

The park should be in alliance with major component manufacturers like Intel Corporation, Infineon, Samsung, and Philips of Netherlands for the supply of cheap and necessary components at very subsidized rates. It is interesting to note that these companies are always ever willing to support parks like this.

Cafeteria which may serve as meeting points for various discussions

An advanced Electronics laboratory well equipped: This laboratory will save as experimental testing grounds for designs and fabrications.

In the words of Steve Wozniak  Co-inventor and founder of apple computers: “What a country like Nigeria could take out of that kind of thinking is to take young people and somehow find ways to get especially chip making companies and all to provide parts- little Raspberry Pi boards and Arduino boards so that kids have those hardware resources they can’t afford. They also need to provide the tools with which they can test their own designs and make things. If these young people had some little electronic boards, some wiring things and enough parts to build little amplifiers and motors, while building metal making equipment-they can make little robots that might do an effective task for a human being”.

And this kind of set up and value is not expensive. This is the kind of park that can jerk Africa and indeed Nigeria out of slumber without which we will remain just consumers of finished ICT products as we did for the industrial revolution age.

 

 

 

Let’s Look at examples of some ICT parks:

The York Science Park

Springboard | Office Space for New Business Start-ups

…a vibrant environment for your new business to start and flourish

Springboard is York Science Park’s exciting, unique and vibrant space specifically designed to cater for the needs of very early stage businesses and entrepreneurs.  The aim is to provide a nurturing environment that stimulates creativity, and supports entrepreneurs to transform ideas into lucrative, sustainable businesses.

Office accommodation is high-quality and low cost, located within the Ron Cooke Hub, on the University of York’s new campus, and in close proximity to the Computer Science Department, Theatre, Film & TV, Law and Management Schools.

Month	Cost of Suite (per month) Excluding VAT
	SMALL (1-2people)*	MEDIUM (3-4 people)*	LARGE (6-8 people)*
0-3	Free	Free	Free
4-6	£100	£150	£300
7-9	£200	£300	£600
10-12	£300	£400	£900
Deposit	£500	£600	£1,100

Springboard offers residents a dynamic environment where business people, academic departments and world class researchers can collaborate, leading to innovative solutions and business opportunities. Residents also benefit from direct access to the University of York’s Research and Innovation Office and Science City York offering further support in helping new ventures to establish and grow.

Established in 2010, it has already helped many new businesses grow and flourish, with a number moving into a larger space in The Catalyst.

 And in Africa we now have the Konza Technology City Project a very major ICT city project

Konza Techno City is a project that is being marketed by the Kenyan government through Kenya ICT Board. It is dubbed "where African silicon savannah begins".

The park is set to host business process outsourcing (BPO) ventures, a science park, a convention centre, shopping malls, hotels, international schools, and health facilite project was allowed by the Parliament Account Committee and endorsed by the Kenyan GovernmentThe city will be located in Machoka County. It will be built in 5000 acres of land 64 km south of Nairobi.

The project is estimated to cost Kshs 1.2 trillion (approx US$14.5b). The project is marketed as key driver of Kenya Vision 2030

Let’s Look at ICT GDP contribution.

For Nigeria, the current ICT GDP contribution is at 5.6 Percent. It is expected that this will jump to 15 Percent in 2015. But that won’t change much in terms of job creation if all that we do is just to buy, consume products are services of ICT sector from other countries. If we must become global players in this information revolution age, if ICT is going to fire job creation and innovation, there is an urgent need to set up such ICT parks and start doing things our self now.

Henry O Ohakwe

Telecoms and Security Consultant