Digital platforms can have an increasing role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and development projects can influence, use, and support digital platforms to achieve the goals. On 3rd March 2021, the GIZ and the Münchner Kreis, a leading independent platform providing orientation for decision makers in the digital world, jointly organized an online workshop “Digital Platforms and Manufacturing for Development” to present leading digital manufacturing platforms in China and to discuss the possibilities for applying such platforms in developing countries, especially in Africa.
The Sino-German Center for Sustainable Development was invited to the workshop and contributed to an exchange on best practices and how to support developing countries to avoid former mistakes, and to jump straight to the best-in-class solution, from the perspective of triangular cooperation between countries like Germany, advanced developing countries like China or South Africa, and developing countries.
The Workshop is one of the activities of the joint conference “Development in the Age of Digital Platforms” organized by the World Bank, the GIZ, and the Münchner Kreis. It focuses particularly on Africa and also includes examples from other developing countries, and on digital platforms in seven sectors: Manufacturing, Education, Health Care, Agriculture and Food Production, Mobility, and Finance / E-Commerce. The main goals of the conference are to promote dialogue and knowledge sharing about platforms and to generate recommendations for a policy paper on designing and implementing platforms in a sustainable, equitable way.
The workshop was kicked off by presentations from leading digital manufacturing platforms in China, and followed by experiences from African countries. The participants discussed the possibilities and challenges for applying manufacturing platforms developed in China in Africa.
Recommendations were generated form the workshop to developing countries. For example, the development of local ecosystems is crucial for the development of successful platforms; providing for and supporting the development of educational institutions in the area of digital platforms and manufacturing together with the government can help leverage financial support and ensure that certificates of such education can be issued and will be recognized. In terms of triangular cooperation between China, Germany, and Africa, the solutions provided by China must be adapted to the specific phase of digitalization that the country or region has reached, and also to local cultural, social, and demographic factors.
To read the summary of the workshop, please click here.
For more information about the conference, please visit “Development in the Age of Digital Platforms” Conference.
