When you think about technological innovation and disrupters, people like Silicon Valley’s Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey naturally come to mind.

According to author Ramesh Srinivasan, the innovators creating the technologies of the future aren’t coming out of the wealthy campuses of Silicon Valley, but instead from the developing nations of Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

Story from CBC.

“The dominant majority of technology users, even Facebook and Google users, aren’t in Canada. They’re not in the United States. They’re not even in Europe,” Srinivasan told Spark host Nora Young.

“They’re in the continents of the global south.”

In his book “Beyond the Valley: How Innovators Around the World are Overcoming Inequality and Creating the Technologies of Tomorrow,” Srinivasan highlights forward-thinking projects around the world that he says wealthier tech nations can learn from.

“I’m not trying to exoticize this, but the constraints people face actually force a type of innovation, a type of creativity that would not be possible if you simply thought you had infinite access to resources,” he said.

About 50 million tonnes of electronic waste are produced every year, according to a World Economic Forum report, and much of that is exported to developing nations.

Innovators in places like Kenya are taking these discarded tech products and repairing them, rewiring them or reconstructing them into entirely new items.

“They’re giving [discarded technologies] new forms of life, and that’s what innovation actually is,” Srinivasan said.

An organization based in Nairobi called Africa Born 3D, or AB3D produces high-quality 3D printers using salvaged electronic waste and then sells them domestically for a fraction of the price of comparable models from the West. 

In fact, Srinivasan says, the AB3D-built technology often outperforms Western and Chinese 3D printers because they’re built by locals who have an understanding of the challenges and needs of their own communities.

Read more at CBC.