Edward Anderson

Engineer, Environmentalist, Explorer, Idea generator, Potential employer, Project manager, Social entrepreneur, Technologist, World traveler

My professional focus is science, technology and innovation for sustainable development. I am currently the Senior Technologist and Resilience Specialist stationed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for the World Bank. My work centers on urbanization and climate risks, and leverages open data for resilience, geospatial and big data initiatives, and emerging climate technologies. I am the co-Chair of Tanzania’s Technology and Innovation Development Partners Group and project manager for programs supporting the government of Tanzania’s Open Data Initiative, Zanzibar Lands Mapping, and Urban Resilience Projects. I also participate internationally on the advisory boards of European Commission smart city projects including City SDK, Code for Europe and Digital Social Innovation and for the European Space Agency’s Open Science Committee and EU’s Drones in Humanitarian Action Expert Working Group. Prior to joining the World Bank I worked at the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Space Agency, UN Office for Outer Space Affairs and founded a start-up company on epidemic early warning systems in Kenya. I studied Master’s degrees in both aerospace engineering and international economics and international relations.

Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa.

We are living through unprecedented climatic and technological change. The most vulnerable countries and communities among us face profound challenges to meet their development aspirations and secure those of future generations. It will be critical to harness new technologies, and empower new forms of collaboration, sharing and production, for these countries to succeed. In Africa two challenges loom large where technology can be a game changer: the transition to a land economy and the mobility of goods. Providing secure tenure, access to finance, and integration of local and national land use plans is critical to household opportunity and national productivity. 3% of Africa’s land is mapped to local area level (compared to 90% of Europe), with most small holder farmers and households lacking land titles. Accelerating the digitization of land is key to achieve effective land administration, securing tenure, and unlocking land assets as a catalyst to growth. Locally operated, low cost survey drones are a new tool in this space empowering town planners and surveyors to digitize their districts at very high resolutions. Most importantly, this capability is being emerging bottom up and demand driven, stimulating local skills, innovation and new applications. Mobility is another critical challenge; where 75% of Tanzania’s population does not have access to an all weather road. Many communities are hard to reach or seasonally cut-off, dramatically curtailing access to critical services such as health care, jobs, and markets. Aerial drone deliveries are beinging to demonstrate their potential and how africa’s cargo markets will likely develop in new directions to the western markets. The countries that can best take advantage of new technologies will be those that can access cutting edge knowledge, provide an enabling environment that balances risks and opportunities, and develop an inclusive vision for their development.

Climate Change, Development Policy, Disaster Risk Management, Drones, ICT, International Economics, Remote Sensing, Resilience, Space Applications, Urbanization

This is my first TED event

I grew up in Hong Kong and Chile mostly, but lived all over the world. I usually find that I have something in common with most people; which often catches them by surprise.