Imagine an industry based in Africa where machines are communicating with each other, robots works alongside humans and production is optimized in real time and the economy is booming resulting from manufacturing processes with investors scrambling to be part of the success story in 21st century with disruptive re-awakening and transformative consciousness among people as a bane of the society. And this unequivocally is regarded as competitive knowledge driven economy.
This vision was created as a scenario to delve into the subject “Industry 4.0” also known as Fourth industrial revolution (4IR). It involves digitization and intelligentization of all sphere of the economy through modern smart technology. It is a new level of organization and systemic control over the entire value chain of the life cycle of products, it is geared towards increasingly individualized requirements.
The concept is realistic in African digital space through the deployment of advanced smart technology, large scale machine to machine communication, cyber- physical systems such as internet of things (IoT), digital twin technology, industrial internet of things, robotics, artificial intelligence, automated manufacturing, nanotechnology, renewable energy technology, quantum cloud computing, data analytics, sensors deployments, biotechnology, advanced wireless technologies, 3D printing, and fully autonomous vehicles etc.
Therefore, to consciously interrogated “man know thyself” at continental level, compelled this discussion through careful choice of subthemes to have a robust conservation across all disciplines as well as activate disruptive thinking on how to carve a niche for Africa within the digital space as well as develop a framework for its actualization. It is hoped to showcase potentials, future projections, progresses and contentious issues in the new dispensation.
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