| The “ Browning ” of African Technology Forget MIT . Hello , Tsing Hua University . For Clothilde Tingiri , a hot young programmer at Rwanda’s top software company , dreams of Beijing , not Cambridge , animate her ambitions . Desperate for more education , this fall she plans to attend graduate school for computer science – in China , not America . The Chinese are no strangers to Rwanda . Near Tingiri’s office , Rwanda’s largest telecom company , Rwandatel , is installing new wireless telephony equipment made by Huawei of Shenzen . Africa boasts the world’s fastest-growing market for wireless telephony , and Huawei – with offices in 14 African countries – is running away with the business , sending scores of engineers into the bush to bring a new generation of low-cost technology to some of the planet’s poorest people . Motivated by profit and market share rather than philanthropy , Huawei is outpacing American and European rivals through lower prices , faster action , and a greater willingness to work in difficult environments . According to Chris Lundh , the American chief of Rwandatel , “ That’s the way things work in Africa now . The Chinese do it all . ” Well , not quite . Across sub-Saharan Africa , engineers from India – armed with appropriate technologies honed in their home market – are also making their mark . India supplies Africa with computer-education courses , the most reliable water pumps , low-cost rice-milling equipment , and dozens of other technologies . The sudden influx of Chinese and Indian technologies represents the “ browning ” of African technology , which has long been the domain of “ white ” Americans and Europeans who want to apply their saving hand to African problems . “ It is a tectonic shift to the East with shattering implications , ” says Calestous Juma , a Kenyan professor at Harvard University who advises the African Union on technology policy . One big change is in education . There are roughly 2,000 African students in China , most of whom are pursuing engineering and science courses . According to Juma , that number is expected to double over the next two years , making China “ Africa’s leading destination for science and engineering education . ” The “ browning ” of technology in Africa is only in its infancy , but the shift is likely to accelerate . Chinese and Indian engineers hail from places that have much more in common with nitty-gritty Africa than comfortable Silicon Valley or Cambridge . Africa also offers a testing ground for Asian-designed technologies that are not yet ready for US or European markets . A good example is a solar-powered cooking stove from India , which has experimented with such stoves for decades . Wood-burning stoves are responsible for much of Africa’s deforestation , and , in many African cities , where wood accounts for the majority of cooking fuel , its price is soaring . The Indian stove is clearly a work-in-progress ; it is too bulky and not durable enough to survive the rigors of an African village . But with India’s vast internal market , many designers have an incentive to improve it . How many designers in America or Europe can say the same ? Of course , technology transfer from China and India could be a mere smokescreen for a new “ brown imperialism ” aimed at exploiting African oil , food , and minerals . In recent years , China’s government alone has invested billions of dollars in African infrastructure and resource extraction , raising suspicions that a new scramble for Africa is underway . But Africans genuinely need foreign technology , and the Chinese , in particular , are pushing hard – even flamboyantly – to fill the gap . This year , Nigeria’s government bought a Chinese-made satellite , and even paid the Chinese to launch it into space in May . China was so eager to provide space technology to Africa’s most populous country that it beat out 21 other bidders for a contract worth $300 million . China’s technology inroads are usually less dramatic , but no less telling . In African medicine , Chinese herbs and pharmaceuticals are quietly gaining share . For example , the Chinese-made anti-malarial drug artesunate has become part of the standard treatment within just a few years . Likewise , Chinese mastery over ultra-small , cheap “ micro-hydro ” dams , which can generate tiny amounts of electricity from mere trickles of water , appeals to power-short , river-rich Africans . Tens of thousands of micro-hydro systems operate in China , and nearly none in Africa . Americans do-gooders like Nicholas Negroponte , with his $100 laptop , have identified the right problem : Africa is way behind technologically and rapid leap-frogging is possible . But Chinese and Indian scientists argue that Africa can benefit from a changing of the technological guard . They may be right . |