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At their next Group of Eight summit in Toyakocho, Hokkaido, in July, leaders of the world s major countries should commit themselves to helping Africa provide low-cost high-speed Internet access.

African universities could be the continent’s gateways into the global knowledge economy for local diffusion of new technologies. But this potential remains unrealized because universities and research institutes in Africa remain digitally isolated from the rest of the world. This is partly because of government neglect and lack of strategic policies on Internet access.

African universities of the size of Tokyo University have the Internet capability of a single Japanese household. Put another way, it is like 30,000 people trying to use a single household connection. This is impracticable and, as a result, most African universities hardly benefit from the abundant scientific and technical knowledge available in other parts of the world.

Calestous Juma / Originally published in the  The Daily Yomiuri

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