CFP: TAFFD's Generation 4IR Global Summit

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS/PAPERS SUBMISSION.

Our current 21st-century world and humankind; through a new set of modern, radical tools characterized as emerging/exponential technologies, stands at the verge of another technological, industrial and human (r)evolution; a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and just as with the story of our origins, the future of this technological revolution lies again in the promise of Africa. 

With its status as having the youngest population on Earth, Africa is strategically positioned at the forefront of the global race to be the 4IR powerhouse thanks to this vast resource of its digital and boundlessly creative youth whose limitless and undeniable technological drive, innovativeness and potential make Africa increasingly attractive to major tech companies and investors around the globe as they yearn to draw closer and tap into a force rapidly diminishing in the relatively more advanced societies of the world. Generation4IR-the deserving label for this emergent young, audacious, problem-solving, technopreneurs and cosmopolitan African breed-hence appears on the scene with a promise of igniting a whole new century of 4IR economies both on the Continent and across the globe. 

Consequently, this minefield of human resources represents a critical base for whom the empowerment to ideate, create, solve for technological convergence, and establish lasting change and impact for the present and future of our species has become an imperative, and especially so as we transition to a Metaverse and Singularity world. 

In the run-up to TAFFD’S Generation4IR Summit, South Africa 2022 themed Accelerating Our Singularity Future for Development in Africa, we at this moment invite ABSTRACT submissions for well-researched papers to be presented at panel sessions during this Strategically Inclusive Working Conference to provide scholars, industry players, decision and policymakers, and thought leaders with African youth-oriented intellectual analysis and contextualization, trusted strategies, ahead-of-curve insights, and emerging techniques to put exponential technologies to work for business, industrialization, and development.

Recognizing the potential of Africa’s Youth and as well presenting approaches for addressing the urgent and critical need to empower Africa’s Generation4IR as a medium for accelerating our Singularity future for development; both on the Continent and for the entirety of our human world, should form the core of the papers. 

Sub-topics for the Abstracts, and subsequent papers, include the following and other related topics:

1. The Singularity and Technological Entrepreneurship in Africa

2. Metaverse and Opportunities for a Creative Youth Economy in Africa

3. African Youth as Global Beacon for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

4. Experiential Reality (XR) and the Future of Work

5. Digitization and Digital Leadership 

6. Mining in the Digital Age

7. Digital Business and Execution

8. Property Rights and Securities in Digital Economy

9. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR)

10. Internet of Things (IoT)

11. Robotics and Robot Rights

12. Longevity/Life Extension and Human Enhancement Technologies (HETs)

13. Nano, Bio, Info, and Cognitive (NBIC) Technologies and 4IR

14. Vertical Farming and New Agricultural Revolutions

15. Sustainable Healthcare Systems

16. Smart City Planning and Development

17. Virtual/Automated Learning and the Future of Education

18. Space Exploration Technologies and Entrepreneurship 

19. Digital Governance, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology

20. Gamification, Experiential Reality and African Cosmology

21. African Philosophy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

22. Generation4IR and Africa’s Creative Industries

23. Socio-Political Economy and Models 4IR Success

Abstracts of not more than 250 words can be submitted to the online platform.

For a guide on abstract submission, visit gen4ir.org 

Papers and abstracts are to be submitted to [email protected]