Course description
The course is part of a series of Sprint MOOCs addressing the Next Production Revolution (NPR) paradigma,
as a new wave of technological innovation with disruptive implications in production processes, society and environmental concerns.
It addresses people from anywhere in the world, from industrialized economies as well as from “developing countries” and particularly from Africa.
This specific course will let you understand the importance to embrace the NPR in terms of achieving Sustainable Development Goals by identifying key technology clusters
and enabling infrastructures.
In this course, you will learn to recognize how the confluence of technological innovation, matching with political, institutional and social innovations has the power to trigger a transformative
process of our society and to contribute to a new narrative of Africa that leverages on innovation and human capital for the Continent’s prosperity.
Furthermore, we will give examples about the way in which innovation can empower Africa with regard to its international commitment, including climate change actions.
Six specific context (Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Tunisia) will be shortly analysed and some solution will be proposed as Restitution Phase from experts trained in the framework of the EMERGING AFRICAN INNOVATION LEADERS Program (Meron Lakew Tefera, Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia; Shadrak Kyprono Kirui, Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, and Anthony Luvanda, Magharibi Innovation hub, Kenya; Fernando Lichucha, Mondlane University, and Lucia Joaquim Ginger, University of St. Thomas, Mozambique; Oumarou Issa Yero Diallo, General Secretariat of Government, Niger; Obindah Gershon, Covenant University, Nigeria and Blessing Onyeche Ugwoke, Politecnico di Torino; Elyes Chabanne, Government Presidency in Tunis, and Wyssal Abassi, School of Tunis, Tunisia).
After taking this Sprint MOOC you’ll be able to recognize how unlocking Africa’s potential through innovation and through human capital development is needed to extend the benefits
of the New Production Revolution (NPR) to the continent.
Course Faculty
Emanuela Colombo, Politecnico di Milano
Emanuela Colombo is Full Professor in Engineering for Cooperation and Development and Advanced Thermodynamics and Thermoeconomics at the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano,
where since 2005 she has also been serving as the Rector’s Delegate to the themes of Cooperation and Development.
In 2012 she was named Chair holder of the UNESCO CHAIR in Energy for Sustainable Development and she is the current representative of the Italian academic system
within the “National Council for Cooperation and Development”, appointed by the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI).
Andrea Gumina, Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico
Andrea Gumina is Senior Policy Advisor on Innovation, Digital Economy and Next Production Revolution at the Cabinet Office of the Italian Minister of Economic Development
(and Deputy Prime Minister) and Senior Advisor to the Italian Digital Agency for the development of Intelligent Public Procurement policies.
He also served as the Expert on Innovation, Next Production Revolution and Digital Economy at the Italian Prime Minister’s Sherpa G7 Unit under the G7 Italian Presidency (2017).
He has an active role in the young entrepreneurial community in Italy, having served several times as a Representative of Confindustria, promoted Start-Up Meetings and subsequently
joined the US Partnership For Growth program.
Pierluigi Leone, Politecnico di Torino
Pierluigi Leone is Associate Professor at the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Torino in Italy where he teaches “Sustainable Energy”,
“Thermal Design and Optimization”, “Global Energy Trends and Outlook”. He is coordinator of the Massive Open Online Course – MOOC –
“The strange paradox of the world energy question”. He was TEDx speaker at the Innovation Ecosystems TEDx conference of Torino, on October,
2016.
He is coordinator of the Task Force “Energy and Development” of Politecnico di Torino in collaboration with the Energy Center Initiative that is committed towards finding
sustainable energy solutions for both urban and rural areas of developing countries.
Stefano Mizio, PoliHub, Politecnico di Milano
Stefano Mizio is Head of Startup Acceleration Programs & China Projects at Polihub, the Innovation District & Startup Accelerator of Politecnico of Milan.
He has various work experiences with different private and nonprofit organizations with specific focus on Technology Strategy and how established companies can improve their
innovation processes implementing startups and agile innovation methodologies, with hands-on experience starting companies. He is a teacher of the
“Entrepreneurship Innovation & Startup course” at MIP School of Management – Polimi. He is a Speaker at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
He also had experiences in Silicon Valley and UK as technology scout.
