19 Nov 2019

Botswana, like the rest of Africa, needs to invest more in scientific knowledge, says University of Botswana vice chancellor Professor David Norris.

  He was speaking at the commencement of a two-day Big Data Africa Visualisation symposium in Gaborone on November 18.

  Prof Norris said visualisation of data science was critical in capacitating the growth and achievement of sustainable development goals and national development plans. 

 Further, the application of data, information and scientific visualisation of knowledge were critical to optimal resource management and sustainability, he said. 

Prof Norris said the unification of digital technology and big data science would play a big role in driving the development trajectory of the country, which would develop a much needed manufacturing base.

Stressing the need for repositories and training of knowledge capital, he said  they were critical to the advancement of big data science in the country. 

  Professor Joseph Muliaro  of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture said the symposium was essential for building capacities to enable Africa to catch up with the rest of the world, where huge data patterns were being visualised for development.

He said data should be used to provide deeper insights for better understanding of problems and to ensure equitable resource allocation. 

Once data was computed and visualised, it could be applied to wealth creating solutions beneficial to the African continent, said Prof Muliaro .

He attributed the western world’s successes in areas such as ICT solutions to good stewardship in big data science.

UB Faculty of Sciences dean, Professor Julius Atlhopheng said research and training were critical to driving innovation and taking advantage of Big Data initiatives towards.ENDS