*EPF114 08/04/2003
Scientist Says New Technology Will Offer Africa New Opportunities
(Dr. Kelly tells Sullivan Summit changes will occur within five years) (540)

By SUSAN ELLIS
Washington File Staff Correspondent

Abuja, Nigeria -- "The 21st century is going to be the century of science and technology" in Africa, Dr. Eamon Kelly, chairman of the board of the National Science Foundation told an international audience at the Leon H. Sullivan Summit in Abuja, Nigeria July 14.

"In three to five years with low cost information technology based on nanotechnology, Africa will be able to access all scientific information needed for health (and)... for economic development. There is the potential of skipping generations of change," resulting in a "new approach to HIV-AIDS focusing on behavior change and preventive medicine."

Nanotechnology is an expected future manufacturing technology that will make most products lighter, stronger, cleaner, less expensive and more precise, and the way it will directly affect Africans is to "offer a dramatic opportunity in health and development" particularly in its impact on information technology, Kelly said.

He also serves on the Board of Directors of IFESH, The International Foundation for Education and Self-Help at the Sullivan Foundation. The Leon H. Sullivan Foundation was established in 2001 to honor not only the life and legacy of a great African-American civil rights pioneer and international humanitarian, but to promote the principles of self-help, thereby empowering underprivileged peoples, and advocating social responsibility worldwide.

"We now have machines that operate at the molecular or atomic level. We are able now to construct a computer the size of a teardrop; we are able to put the entire Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, in one of those (drinking) glasses.

"We will shortly be able in the health field to put transmitters in the brain at molecular levels; we'll be able to put diagnostic machines in the blood ...but even more important for Africans, in terms of health and development, will be its impact on information technology.

"Within three to five years, from my experience as chairman of the board of the National Science Foundation, I am convinced you are going to see infinite band width and infinite processing capacity. You will see a dramatic change in the nature of computer technology. This means to have this infinite processing capacity; to have this infinite band width. The day of long lines is over.

"All computer technology will take place through satellite phones, cellular phones, through other types of phones. The tremendous infrastructure and cost of fiber-optics will be gone, and the price of computer technology will continue to decline....South Africa is going to be able to afford information technology that can access all the scientific information on the web."

He added, "This is a tremendously exciting period. I think if we take a new approach to health; a new approach to HIV-AIDS, and (if) the universities of Africa, the societies of Africa develop a culture of technology, especially information technology...we can show a dramatic change in health; a dramatic change in economic development; a dramatic change in Africa in which literally we can see the traditional development process change; where we can see a skipping of generations of development; we can see an exciting period of tremendous growth."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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