Tightening the interconnectedness of ICT, Digitalization and Industry 4.0 to accelerate Economic growth and industrialization in developing countries

Experts discuss leveraging ICT and Industry 4.0 for economic growth in developing countries

During a panel session titled “Connecting ICT, Digitalisation Technologies and Industry 4.0 to Accelerate Economic Growth and Industrialisation in Developing Countries,” experts discussed strategies to harness technology for sustainable development in developing nations. The panel included Ana Paula Nishio de Sousa from UNIDO and Professor Adel Ben Youssef from the University of Cote d’Azur and EISMA.

Ana Paula Nishio de Sousa highlighted UNIDO’s commitment to inclusive and sustainable industrial development, focusing on innovation ecosystems, digital infrastructure, and skills building. She shared success stories, such as a project in Namibia that used AI and satellite imagery to convert an invasive Acacia species from an environmental problem into an economic resource. Another initiative, “Employment for Zero,” aims to enhance youth employment in Tunisia and Cote d’Ivoire through capacity building.

Professor Adel Ben Youssef addressed challenges in adopting Industry 4.0 technologies in Africa, including awareness, funding, and the need for locally adapted solutions. He pointed out the brain drain issue, with many engineers leaving their countries, creating a skills gap. The professor suggested that investment in education, as demonstrated by Ireland’s economic transformation, could serve as a model for developing countries.

Audience contributions included concerns about the exclusion of Africa from AI regulation by the EU and the US, the need for African leadership in AI discussions, and the potential role of the African diaspora in driving investment and technological advancement in African nations. Another audience member pointed out the reluctance of manufacturers to provide products for infrastructure and education in Africa.

The session concluded with an emphasis on the importance of technology in creating value and driving industrialisation. It was agreed that developing countries should be involved in global technological discussions to ensure no one is left behind in the digital age. The panel called for equitable distribution of digital transformation benefits and global prosperity.

Sama Mbang:
Welcome to this session. The title of our session is Connecting ICT, Digitalization Technologies and Industry 4.0 to Accelerate Economic Growth and Industrialization in Developing Countries. During this session, we will explore tangible strategies, operational solutions and ready-to-use tools, and also partnerships that contribute to the acceleration of the industrialization of developing countries as key contributions to sustainable development, economic growth and people’s prosperity. We are here on the panel, three people. Mrs. Anna Paola, Chief Digital Transmission and AI Strategist at UNIDO. Good afternoon, it’s very nice to be here, thank you for coming. And Professor Dr. Adel Ben Youssef, Professor at the University of Cote d’Azur in France and also co-founder and expert of EISMA. Good afternoon. Maybe let’s start with a little bit of a presentation for yourself, Anna Paola, a little bit deeper.

Ana Paula NISHIO DE SOUSA:
Okay, well I am Anna Paola Nishio, I am from Brazil and I’ve been working with UNIDO for seven years and I’ve been 20 years in the UN system and I’ve been working in tech for 30 years, a little bit over 30 years. I am now the Chief of the Digital Transmission and AI Strategist, which is one of the technical departments operating primarily in technical cooperation activities, but we also do norms and standards, we also do partnerships, so EISMA is one of the partnerships, that’s one of the convening mechanisms that we have, we are very proud of it. We also have AIM Global, Global Alliance on AI for Industry and Manufacturing. And yes, so thank you very much again for being with us.

Adel BEN YOUSSEF:
Hello, Adel Ben Youssef, I’m a Professor of Economics at the University of Cote d’Azur in France. I’m working in observing this digital transition since 25 years by academic works and also linking this digital transformation to sustainability and also observing this ecological transition since 25 years. I’m trying to bridge the two by this, what we call the digital, what we call the twin transition nowadays. Working on the field also with Sama and other colleagues in some countries, in African countries, in order to implement this twin transition and practices, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, but also in Kenya, Mauritius and other countries. Thank you.

Sama Mbang:
Okay, thank you, thank you very much. And I’m Sama, one of my role is founder and CEO of the Digital Transformation Alliance, an organization with the mission to promote the fast adoption and mastery of cutting edge technologies, focusing on industrialization in Africa. And I will start with a quote I posted this morning, which is defining a little bit the context we will discuss today, because I’m very convinced that industrialization is key to the development and why maybe, and at least we have this interactive session, we can discuss exchange, but from my point of view, when we talk about developed countries, we refer to industrialized countries and vice versa. When we talk about industrialized countries, all of them are developed countries, at least you can show me a difference. So that means that the way to the development is through industrialization. And we know all about what is coming with industrialization. We are living in an industrialized country here in Switzerland. Europe is mainly industrialized and developed. So for developing countries, the way to reach the level of developed countries is from our point of view through industrialization. And by doing so, technology is playing a key role. We have to master technology and disseminate technologies in all fields. And that means combining, let’s say, enable technologies like ICTs with operational technologies, technologies that give us the possibility to create value, to establish value chains, to be productive, to transform product into value. This is all about an independent, if you have resources or not. We know there are a lot of industrialized countries that don’t have raw materials, but they are developed and they are industrialized. This is key. And now we are here at ITU WISIS, we talk about technologies, ICTs. Are they the right technologies to help developing countries to be also developed? Because we know in the world we have a shift. We have developed countries and less developed, least developed countries. Now I assume that in order to reach the level of developed countries, the way is through industrialization. So this is my point of view. But we are here to discuss, to share experience. But what I’m very convinced, and this is my point of activity, no one should be left behind. And it’s not about taking something away from someone or from a country, because global prosperity at the end of the day is what we all want. Not only one part of the world, but all of us are striving for prosperity. So then, the floor is open now, let’s discuss. Let’s start with the first question, Ana Paula, based on your experience. Can you tell us, for example, how does UNIDO plan to support developing countries in adapting digital transformation and AI to enhance their industrial sectors?

Ana Paula NISHIO DE SOUSA:
Thank you very much for the question. UNIDO’s mandate is the promotion of inclusive and sustainable industrial development. And my team in particular uses industry for all technologies and digital transformation technologies as a lever. Our commitment to digital transformation is not just about keeping pace with technological advancements, but paving the way for a digitally empowered future that is inclusive, that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. We are dedicated to driving industrial development that fuels economic growth, supports inclusivity, environmental sustainability and resilience. Through our initiatives, we aim to empower nations, industries and communities to make the most of industry for all technologies, turning challenges into opportunities for sustainable development. We are very SME-centric, we are very women-centric, and we also target a lot of youth and vulnerable populations. So, our strategic focus includes fostering innovation ecosystems, enhancing digital infrastructure and building the necessary skills and capabilities within industries and communities. By promoting the adoption of smart manufacturing technologies, we are helping countries to leapfrog traditional development stages and accelerate their industrial growth. So, our strategy, our operational strategy for digital transformation is anchored on our mission to become a trusted partner of member states and industry stakeholders, in particular in development countries and economies in transition, on their path to a sustainable digital future. So, we lead by example through our all corporate-driven digital transformation, and we support our member states in strengthening digital governance, developing digital ecosystems, building capabilities. So, ICT and digitalization are critical in modernizing industries and boosting economic growth. They serve as the backbone of innovation, efficiency and productivity in today’s industrial landscape. Interconnected digital systems enhance operational capabilities and foster a culture of continuous improvement. So, I will go a little faster because I may need to do it in five minutes. I think that will give me too many notes. So, what is key for this in our activities? So, our role in Industry 4.0 involves providing technical assistance, providing policy advice and capacity building programs. So, we work closely with government, private sector stakeholders and academic institutions to create conducive environments for the adoption of those technologies. We are going to ensure that all countries, regardless of their current level of industrial development, can participate in and benefit from the 4.0, and now we are starting to talk about the 5.0 Industrial Revolution. So, collaboration is key. Partnerships play a crucial role in this transformation. Nobody can do it alone and everybody has something to bring. So, a lot of our work is about creating this convenient space where we bring academia, where we bring the industry, where we bring the government, where we bring civil society. So, I’ll give two examples. One, I have two members here, is the UNIDOS Alliance for Smart Manufacturing in Africa. So, it’s more of a think tank, right? Bringing experts and they are designed to accelerate the adoption of Industrial 4.0 technologies for Africa’s specific digital transformation needs. And on a more global perspective, but from a technology standpoint a bit narrower, we have the UNIDOS Global Alliance on Artificial Intelligence for Industry and Manufacturing. So, they are not competing, we are very complementary, we talk to each other, we work together. It’s linked to specifically AI in industry manufacturing, because it’s one of the most powerful technologies right now to drive digital transformation. So, developing countries face significant challenges on their digital transformation journeys and they are all in different stages. So, sometimes there is infrastructure deficiencies, skills gaps are very common, limited funding also, big problem that we try and we also suffer from. But those challenges also come with opportunities. If we can invest in capacity building, if we can help countries develop supportive policy frameworks and we can enhance infrastructure, we can turn these obstacles into stepping stones for growth. UNIDOS is committed to supporting those efforts, providing technical assistance, mobilizing resources, a big part of what we do, to ensure that no country is left behind in the digital age. So, a lot of our initiatives involve the establishment of technology and innovation hubs in developing countries, that they provide training, resources and support to local businesses and entrepreneurs, enabling them to adopt and innovate with digital technologies. So, our vision for the future of industrial development is one that is sustainable, inclusive and resilient. And over the next decades, UNIDO aims to implement specific initiatives and programs that will drive this vision forward. We are focused on creating environments where digital transformation can thrive, foster innovation and building capacities that will lead to long-term economic growth and industrialization. Our goals are clear, to make digital technologies accessible for all and to ensure that the benefits of digital transformation are equitably distributed. So, I’ll stop here because I already used my five minutes. Thank you very much.

Sama Mbang:
Thank you very much, Anna Paona. Thank you very much. As you said at the end, that the goal is to promote and to set digital technologies for all. But have a look concretely on the field, Adel. What are the key challenges that the developing countries are facing in implementing Industry 4.0 technologies? And how can this be overcome?

Adel BEN YOUSSEF:
Thank you very much, Sama. I’m going to provide some insights from the field and focusing on Africa because I’m not, when you say less developed countries, white, but looking at African country and African context. The first problem or challenge is the awareness. We have 99% of our, how can I say, SMEs, firms, not aware about the potential of the technologies. That they don’t know what, how they fit with their work, how they fit with their industries. And we have, when we show them the potential of this technology, they become convinced. But they don’t know prior to that because they are used to work in a certain manner and it’s something new. So never be in contact. That’s key to provide for each. African country, at least one smart factory. What is a smart factory? Is a physical space. When you showcase what the technology can provide for the industries. And this is very important. And this is what UNIDO is helping to do in Morocco, in Tunisia, in other countries. Because when you show this, immediately they ask, how can I do in order to be involved in this process? And then the second problem is funding. Okay, I’m convinced, but where is the money and how we can get the money? And here you need to work closely with the banking system, but also other provider of the funds, like donors or whatever, to guide them to this kind of programs. And this is fundamental and it works very well. When we have tried to work closely with the bank, they found some mechanism in order to help to acquire the technology. Third, this technology needs to be adapted at the local context. This is not to bring solution from abroad. You need to develop them locally and you can go low cost and low, high content, how can I say, local content. And it works. We have seen that when you start to build the ecosystem with startups, firms, academia, like what Yurido is doing on the ground, building the ecosystem, then you have some local technology working. And this is really what is happening in Morocco, Tunisia and other part of the… So it’s key that these barriers, we need to overcome them very rapidly and to put an ecosystem, to try to find, how can I say, rapidly a program in order to implement these smart factories everywhere and to work with the financial sector in order to provide the right solution, the right solution with our context, because we know the problem of our context. And we are dealing about, when we would like to implement this industry 4.0, you need to be sure prior that your firms are at least at the industry 3.0, that they have the minimum digitalization in order to move the 4.0, because most of them are not at that stage. That’s mean 99% are not at that stage.

Sama Mbang:
Yeah, thank you very much. Very interesting. Yeah, thank you very much. Very interesting. Let me jump to the second question, Ana Paula. Can you share some successful examples UNIDO has implemented based on the critical question of industrialization?

Ana Paula NISHIO DE SOUSA:
Thank you very much for the question, because, of course, it’s great to talk, but doing is better. So I’ll give two examples. The first example I’m gonna speak, and then the second example, I happen to have two experts on the project, so I don’t think I can speak better than them. So I’ll give the floor back to them. So the first example that I want to talk about is Namibia. In Namibia, in a certain region of Namibia, there is a problem of bush encroachment. Acacia bushes are an invasive species that is taking over the land, and it was considered to have no economic value and a problem for the local population. So UNIDO… So that’s the other point that I wanted to make. We never start an intervention… Of course, I love technology. Technology is my ikigai. It’s what I love, it’s what I’m good at, it’s what the world needs, and that’s what I get paid for. But in development, you never start with the technology, because technology is the solution. You start with the problem. The problem and the context, that’s how you start. Otherwise, it’s just solutionism, or it’s just you trying to bring a solution to find the problem. It just doesn’t work in that context. So let me talk about the problem. Bush encroachment, Acacia, no economic value, negative economic value. So a multidisciplinary team, UNIDO, evaluated the situation, and the first step was, is there economic value on this plague? And we had the hypothesis that we could use for cattle feeds, biomass, coal. So it had a theoretical economic value, but we still didn’t know if the biomass, the amount of biomass that was, because it was not planted, was just there. We didn’t know where it was or where to harvest it. And that’s when the digital team came, and with satellite imagery, combined with drone imagery, we trained an LLM model to calculate the biomass. And we could prove that, okay, there is economic value, there is enough biomass, this is where we do the harvest, this is how we do, and we could give the right inputs, the right information, so that we could make the case to create a plant to process this plague. So this is not fiction. This is a project funded by the government of Finland that had this very important, this crucial digital component. It’s the factory we hope will become operational very soon, and will generate jobs, and will generate development, and we will address a plague. So it’s a very nice rags-to-riches story. Something that had negative value, negative economic value becoming a source of income and a new value chain, a new economic value chain. So that’s an example that we all love. My second example is more about, is linked to capacity building in Tunisia and Cote d’Ivoire. The Employment for Zero, that’s how I normally call the project, which is about capacity building to boost employment among youth populations. But I am surrounded by people who can talk about this project much better than I do. So who has the floor?

Sama Mbang:
Aden, please.

Adel BEN YOUSSEF:
Yes, I think that skills and capacity building are key for this technology, because you need really to have the right expertise in order to implement. And for that you need, of course, engineers, but also the middle, the middle staff, that they need to master these technologies. And yes, in Tunisia, Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, with the help of the UNIDO, we are trying to identify the skills gap, based on facts and based on surveys with the firms. What is happening when they go to Industry 4.0? What are the skills lacking? And then we try to build them locally. But one of the challenges is the brain drain. Let me be very… For Tunisia, for example, let me give you one figure. Last year, 6,000 engineers have left the country. 6,000 per year. Since four years, we have 6,000 leaving the country. But the total number of the engineers is 90,000. And that means that we are training people, investing in people, but not keeping them there. And now our firms are really lacking people in order to implement this shift to Industry 4.0. But we need really to not be pessimistic. We need to continue. And we are identifying with the firms where and how, in order not only to train people, but also to retain them. This is fundamental in order to upgrade the system. Another aspect is the awareness of policymakers about what is happening. Because policymakers also, they are lacking knowledge about Industry 4.0. How the framework, et cetera. And they are making the regulation. And from time to time, we see that regulation is not adapted to Industry 4.0. One example is, for example, to forbidden, it’s forbidden in Egypt or in Tunisia, drones. Okay, so if you forbidden how to use them really. And we have the application. And some of the technologies that we are dealing about, the regulation are not allowing to use them. So you need also as experts, we need to bridge this gap and to make the policy dialogue in order to convince them that this is a source of productivity for the firms and they need to use them. And you need to adapt the regulation. But nowadays, I think that the worldwide technology is going much faster than the regulation everywhere. So this is the challenge. But in our countries, we have some regulation that is from 1880 or something like this in Tunisia. So not adapted at all. But this is a kind of work where we need really to adapt the education system, the perception of the enterprises, also the geopolitical aspect because brain drain needs to be tackled worldwide. It’s not… And policymaker.

Sama Mbang:
Yeah, thank you very much. I really like these two examples. One of Namibia and the capacity building. Because when I remember, I had a discussion yesterday again with a colleague here in Oasis. We were talking that we’re taking the example of if there is a project funded by an international organization, for example, like UNIDO or something like that. Let’s say the project costs one billion coming from outside the country. How much will go back to the donors? Almost 90%. Because when it comes to, let’s say, investment in machinery, all the machines will be brought from outside. All the knowledge how to equip and to maintain the machine is outside. And this is the topic that is very, very critical that at the end of the day, there is, let’s say, less value in the countries, in the developing countries. Because there is no technology inside the country and there is no skills as well. And that’s why it’s critical. And it’s combined with… I had also a discussion this morning with a colleague from Ireland. He said, okay, let’s say 20 years ago or maybe 25, in Ireland, the level of unemployment was very, very high in the countries because less jobs. But they started to invest concretely in skills, skills building. I see someone in the field. Maybe you can tell us more about it. Okay. And now today, Ireland is one of the countries in the world. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. Tell us, please.

Ana Paula NISHIO DE SOUSA:
Ah, thank you. Yeah, so you’re absolutely right about, I would say, 35 years ago, maybe even 40, would it be, back in the 1980s. It was the third world of Europe in terms of the economy. And in fact, as you just said, unemployment was very, very high. The Irish government, I believe, were very intelligent in investing in their youth and in education. And what they did was they created programs that sent then their graduates to other countries. I ended up in Japan. Some went to the US, others to Germany. Countries that had very developed industry that had made a success story of their systems so that we could also learn how to apply our knowledge that we had learned and then attract investment back into the country from those countries. And in fact, from that, Ireland became, as you said, an industrial giant. There’s the term the Celtic tiger in the early 2000s because all of the Microsofts, they set up there. But there was also a very intelligent tax plan behind it as well. But the real basis of it was in fact due to the investment in education. Third level education was provided practically free for an awful lot of homes, particularly those who suffered from high unemployment. So yeah, there was a very intelligent plan put behind it. And within the space of 30 years, the situation has completely changed. So yes, it is certainly something that’s worth looking at as an example.

Sama Mbang:
Great, wonderful. Please.

Audience:
Yeah, thank you. No, absolutely. And I’m one of the Irish migrant workers that Rita has referred to. Absolutely. I think that’s a very accurate characterization. But I would just encourage people to look at things in the round. And now Ireland is experiencing many societal challenges mainly expressed in terms of access to health, access to housing. So it’s been quite spectacular in how the economic indicators have been absolutely spectacular. And you wouldn’t recognize Ireland compared to 30 years ago in terms of physical transformation. population and demographics and all the rest of it. But huge, huge societal challenges now, as I’ve mentioned. So I think we need to look at, and I’m delighted the previous speaker was talking about data and data regulation. I really feel that all these issues have to be addressed in a comprehensive way and not just focusing on one or another. I now live in Spain and just on an anecdotal level, access to healthcare in Spain is vastly, vastly easier, vastly cheaper than in Ireland. I say to my relatives in Ireland, if you want to see a doctor, come on a plane, come to Spain, you get a GP, you can get a referral and it’ll be a fraction of the cost than in Ireland. And that’s the reality. I was in Dublin a month ago and you learn a lot from taxi drivers and the taxi driver, the taxi drivers explained to me his recent health. He was in, he had to get a stent. He was in hospital for four, six days for five and a half days. He was in a, on a trolley in the hospital for a half day. He was in a hospital bedroom for which he was charged 1500 euros. So we call that in Ireland, the, the trolley season, which is the months, I think January, February, when the hospitals are full of people on trolleys in the hospital hallways. And that’s a reality that is, is there today. And I think that’s a, that’s a, that’s a huge reflection. I think it’s a huge statement on economic development as we pursue it. So again, when we’re looking at the, the, the bowing at the altar of competitiveness and economic growth and all that, you know, you can achieve the fantastic figures that Ireland has done, but there are consequences. Thank you.

Sama Mbang:
Okay. Wonderful. Wonderful. Great examples. But now based on that, maybe this can be a kind of blueprint and why it’s not the case in other countries. Why it’s not the case in developing countries. Maybe some thoughts. Yes, please.

Audience:
You have mentioned things that really touched me in a daily basis. You mentioned about the drones for instance, and the policy part. So I work with manufacturers that are located in developing countries. Correct. And Africa is one of those regions. So I, we do global certification. So we work with the policymakers and we need to make those products available. So number one, in many cases is not necessarily that you cannot even certify the drone. So it can be used there. But the, the lack of interest in many cases from the industry, because it becomes what is first, if the chicken or the egg. So you need to have an economic, but for these manufacturers, you have to have an economic motivation to go to a particular country because now you can sell more. Correct. But because you cannot make the case, then you do not even provide a product that might be. And we’re talking about many of the products I have the opportunity to work with are for industry. So basically for agriculture, for logistics. And it’s sad for me to know, I have the full knowledge about all the things that we need to do in each country in Africa. And yes, again, policy needs to get better in some of those, but some of those are actually very well prepared. Again, I’m catching up. But the products don’t want to get there. And so that’s one of my concerns, like how can we help to make sure that these countries move from undeveloped to develop. If the products that are required sometimes for that, for infrastructure, for also for education of the population, how we can make sure that these manufacturers made the jump and decide to make or be part of a partnership or something that allows these products to get to these countries. To me, I’m very sad that the conversation many times happened when I am in these organizations like, well, no, Africa is one that is not a country we’re going to be even, I’m sorry, this is a region. Thank you. I saw your eyes, like what I just said. Africa is a region where many, and so maybe we will see two or three countries popping up there, South Africa, maybe Nigeria. And of course Egypt, but in many cases, they don’t think about Egypt as an African country. It will be more that they have that as an strategy of the Middle East. I feel very sad about that. Just wanted to share that because it’s something that I face very frequently in what I do.

Sama Mbang:
Yeah. Yeah. I would also say something, but yes, please.

Audience:
I mean, you’ve asked a very comprehensive question, so I’m not going to pretend to answer it in whole, but two points I would like to point to, since you have brought up the issue of regulation. I was with the members of the US Congress recently who told me that in their view, Africa has been excluded from the process of AI regulation by the European Union and by the United States. Now we could have a couple of days discussion on this, but I believe that to be true. And I believe it to be a terribly negative development. I think there are two aspects to it. I think the impacts in Africa of these developments, I think are going to be profound, but they’re not discussed and they’re not understood. I think there’s an absence of political dialogue on these issues, but most importantly, I feel that it’s a huge opportunity. I’m not negative about this. I think there are many negative aspects, but I think we have to look for the positives. And I think the opportunity is for African leadership on these issues. We don’t see African leadership currently at a global political level. A lot of AI discussions at the AI good, for example, tend to take a, you know, is this good? Is this bad? You know, what does the future hold? Regarding those discussions, I say, who knows? So I avoid it. Rather, you can have a technical approach to the issues, but I’m advocating that there should be a political and policy-led approach under African leadership, looking at African solutions for Africa. I think that’s hugely, hugely important. And that currently doesn’t exist. And I think, as I said, I feel a lot of positives could come from it. A second response to your question is the African diaspora. I think the African diaspora has a huge potential role to play in advancing the cause for investment in Africa, not Africa, but African nations. And I think this has an enormous potential, in the way that it happened for Ireland in the scenario that Rita presented. And I think that has, as I said, enormous potential. And I think it needs to be appreciated. I think it needs to be managed. I think it needs to be promoted. But also, again, how African nations are addressing, because if we’re talking about this innovative future, data-enabled future, AI future, regulation has to be part of that discussion. And I think the diaspora can be part of leading that and linking the dialogue around AI regulation and investment in AI technologies in Africa is, as I said, I would consider that to be actually a huge opportunity. So I’m just presenting those as really observations and in part response to your question. So thank you very much.

Sama Mbang:
Yeah. Thank you very much. Yes. Yeah.

Audience:
No, I was just going to add that a lot of the time, a lot of this AI and new technology is very much aimed at the younger generation. And I sometimes think the educational factors need to also focus on an older generation for acceptance of technology, for also in looking at their fears and concerns. So if we’re not careful, we create a divide between the younger generation and the older generation. So I think there is an educational piece that also needs to be aimed at an older generation and increasing their awareness and feeding in their thoughts and concerns as well.

Sama Mbang:
Thank you. We have five minutes to conclude.

Ana Paula NISHIO DE SOUSA:
Time just flew. Yeah. OK. But maybe another word.

Sama Mbang:
OK, then let’s conclude and then I will.

Adel BEN YOUSSEF:
Let me just react to give some more insights, for example, from North African countries. One of the ways that we have seen that they are involved now in these technologies and the awareness has raised is with the increase of the cost of the energy. When we have the increase of the cost of the energy, they are trying the energy savings, energy efficiency, and they found immediately that digitalization can lead to this. And this is part of the agenda of UNIDO also. And this is also because they are required now to be to be in. How can I say to be in on a call? That’s mean they need to to respect the new regulation in Europe for the cross-border adjustment mechanism about the CO2. And in order to decrease the carbon, the content of the carbon, because they are selling product in Europe and it will enter in force in 2026. So they are going digital and trying with this technology in order to lower the CO2 emission. And this is something new. That’s mean that nowadays it’s no mat. It’s a must. It’s not optional now for a lot of what this is, what this is, what’s happening, especially in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria and Egypt. The other one is, of course, the leadership of Africa. You’re completely right. But unfortunately, we have several reality in Africa. And we have even for the leadership, we have problems nowadays. I’m a negotiator on behalf of one of the African countries for the COP or the climate change. And fortunately, we are seeing that for years we were united in one position. But now I’m seeing that. So it’s very difficult to have this leadership on AI while in other subjects. We are very close. We are not able now to have a common position.

Sama Mbang:
Thank you. Thank you. Ana Clara.

Ana Paula NISHIO DE SOUSA:
Now I’d just like to thank everybody who came. It was quality over quantity. It was really great. Thank you very much for your participation. And if I may do a little bit of propaganda. If anybody is interested in the technological approach that we did in the Namibia project, there will be a workshop tomorrow, two o’clock, in the AI for Good. So if you’re not afraid of nerdy, heavy, LLM training, talk, drones, imagery. So I think that that will be very interesting. And because we are already using that technological approach, we are proposing for rehabilitation of the ROC to help resource efficiency and the reforestation process, digital agriculture. Many problems have technological solutions. Technology can be used to solve many problems. So if you have the time and the patience to go through four hours of workshop. Thank you so much.

Sama Mbang:
So thank you very much for attending this session. Also, I will need to have much more time, but it’s OK. I think we had good ideas. The example of Ireland. It’s a very good thing that investing in skills consequently can drive the way to industrialization. Focusing on industrial applications locally, develop local content. It’s also very key. I would say coach policymakers to adopt these technologies. It’s also very key. I like what you said, that African leadership should be present in big stakeholder event when it comes to drive strategies, worldwide strategies. It’s very key. Otherwise, there will not be African content or developing countries content for them. And then, of course, the African diaspora as a good bridge can play a very key role. Thank you very much. I think some good recommendation. I hope that the ITU and so on will focus more on value creation technologies to drive industrialization. AI is good. And AI to create jobs and industries is much better. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.