The Developing World's Race against technology: The need to be on the cutting edge

If you can't beat them,join them!

In an earlier post, I wrote about the danger technology poses to the economies of the developing world; In this one I write about how technology is the solution to the problem that it poses.

Where state-of-the-art is not enough ...

In today's world owning and running the state-of -the-art means you are likely paying someone for it. Developing countries such as Uganda import almost all the technology they use. From personal devices like cell phones to public infrastructure  technology like power plants. While the developing world researches ways to reduce their dependence on foreign resources, the developing world becomes more and more dependent on consumer technology and public infrastructure designed and built by the developed world. We in the developing world use tried and tested technology. However in the fast paced world of technology, tried and tested is synonymous with old.

... go bleeding edge

The developing world needs to be on the cutting edge of technology, it is not enough that you have the latest, it is important that you have the future as well. For many technologies, the direction the future is taking is easy to guess, we know that barring a revolutionary high capacity compact generator we will always need an electric grid, and we know with a good amount of certainty that the future of the electric grid is the Smart Grid. Just as we know the future of almost all systems involves some level of data connectivity, as such, systems should no longer be designed as they once where, they should be designed while accounting for the future. To stay relevant theres a need to get ahead.

The developed world did it on the cutting-edge

What is sometimes forgotten is that the developed world owes its development in no small part to the development and implementation of cutting edge technologies, the power plants and transport systems that fueled their growth were cutting edge when the developed world used them, however by the time the developing world gets to them, they are near obsolete. No longer revolutionary but simply functional. One area where we seem to have skipped state of the art and gone straight to cutting edge is telecommunications. However when it comes to public infrastructure technology and public sector technology we are still using decades old technology and methods.

The developed world is phasing out the old

If you look at many public works projects in the developed world, they are trying to phase out or replace old technologies that we are instead trying to build. From transportation technologies to the power grids, the developed world is looking to newer more efficient technologies as they move forward. We in the developing world are instead looking to the old technologies that they are trying to throw away which almost guarantees we'll be a dumping ground for this old tech and will always be behind. 

It is easier for many developing countries

The developing world has some advantages over the developed world in implementing new technologies; First we often do not have to get rid of old technology to implement new technology, and second we have less developed policy (no policy?) which often means there are no policy blocks to new technology. For example, the installation of the Galena Nuclear power-plant which was supposed to be built by Toshiba in Alaska was stalled at least in part because existing policy for nuclear power plants in the United States was designed for large power plants with huge potential risks and is thus too restrictive for micronuclear plants like the Toshiba 4s reactor that are far safer, smaller and simpler than the traditional nuclear power plants. Most developing countries do not have such restrictive policy(or any policy really!).

Focus on Public sector tech

For the most part  consumer technology tends to follow global trends closely, it is almost always possible to get the latest smartphone or personal computer irrespective of where you are. However the public sector is stuck using fairly old technologies. And yet advancement in non consumer technology can be achieved without requiring the kind of proliferation consumer tech requires for advancement. Whereas to succeed android for example needed millions of people to buy devices, public sector technology is not so restricted. A single implementation of technology in the public sector goes a long way and affects many more lives.

There are several bleeding edge technologies that could be adopted by developing world countries I'll be discussing some of them in future posts and will update this post accordingly. There is no hard rule in technology that says you need to crawl before you can walk, in many other areas the developing world can skip a stage like they did with communications technology when they skipped landlines and went straight to cellular technology.
In technology and in life, we should always ask ourselves in when we find ourselves doing things the way they have always been done, 'is this the best we can do?'