Africa Must Invest in AI Innovation or Risk Digital Dependence, Expert Warns

 

By Monica Meeme

Africa risks replacing its historical dependence on raw-material exports with a new form of digital dependence unless it deliberately invests in knowledge creation, research, innovation and industrial capacity, Prof. Sergey D. Bodrunov has warned.

He made the remarks on 20 August 2026 while presenting the “Theory of Noonomy” at a conference hosted by Makerere University's School of Economics in partnership with the World Association of Noonomy and the S.Y. Witte Institute for New Industrial Development.

The conference examined how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are reshaping production, employment and global economic power, while questioning whether Africa has the knowledge and productive capacity to shape- rather than simply consume-the technologies driving that transformation.

The concern comes as the African Union seeks to position the continent as an active participant in the global AI economy. Its Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy calls for greater investment in infrastructure, data, AI skills, research and innovation, as well as stronger African private-sector capacity to develop and deploy AI solutions.

According to a 2021 UNESCO assessment of artificial intelligence readiness in Africa, based on responses from 32 African Member States, identified gaps in AI governance, legal frameworks, infrastructure and institutional capacity, and highlighted the need to strengthen education, research and training.

These gaps provide the wider context for Bodrunov's warning.

Director of the S.Y. Witte Institute and author of Noonomy, Prof. Bodrunov argued that the global economy is moving from a model centred primarily on material production and profit towards one in which knowledge, culture and human creativity play a greater role.

“Africa must move beyond being a consumer of technology by investing in knowledge-intensive industrialisation, strengthening research, innovation and local manufacturing capacity,” he said.

His argument place the question of technological ownership and knowledge production at the centre of Africa's AI transition. For the continent, the challenge is not simply gaining access to artificial intelligence, but developing the skills, research institutions, industries and local innovation systems needed to understand, adapt and create technologies that respond to African realities.

Makerere Calls for Knowledge-Led Transformation

Speaking at the conference, Prof. Sarah Ssali, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, representing Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, said Africa needs to rethink conventional development models by placing knowledge, innovation and human potential at the centre of its transformation.

That argument directly reinforces Bodrunov's warning: Africa's ability to benefit from technological change will depend not only on access to new technologies, but on its capacity to produce the knowledge and human capabilities behind them.

Prof. Edward Bbaale, Principal of the College of Business and Management Sciences, similarly noted that AI and digitalisation can improve productivity, but stressed that technology should complement rather than replace human capabilities.

He called for increased investment in education, research and university-industry linkages to strengthen Uganda's ability to turn knowledge into practical economic value.