Start North Teams With Ambitious Africa to Provide 5G Education to African Countries
Start North had their first online 5G summer course in June 2020, with participants from thirty-three countries and lecturers from the world’s top universities. Now the education on 5G technology will be expanding to reach young people in Africa.
Start North is a student-driven community educating students around the world about 5G technology so they can stay ahead of its developments, understand how it will affect society and be used most effectively. Ambitious Africa and Start North are planning to establish 5G learning platforms called ‘5G Mökkis’ in African countries.
Start North, a student-driven community and network in partnership with major 5G providers Nokia and Telia, hosted their first global two-week 5G online summer school in June. The summer course is a cooperation with Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering and other leading universities and companies.
Participants from thirty-three countries came together to educate young people about the possibilities and challenges with 5G technology. The course included guest lectures from universities such as MIT, Oxford, King’s College, Technical University of Denmark, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Research Institutes of Sweden.
A 5G future
5G technology is rolling out in cities across the globe with speed. A GSMA Study estimates that by 2025, 5G will account for 15 per cent of global mobile connections. It's going to affect how we work, how we learn, how we drive and how we manufacture things. It’s going change businesses, defense applications and the infrastructure of societies.
Follow the rollouts on the Ookla 5G Map.
Faster connectivity and lower delay means remote learning, working and communication across borders will be made more effective. Greater bandwidth means the network can handle more devices at the same time. It will enable massive machine communication, which can revolutionise industries such as transport and healthcare.
Since 5G will be used for critical infrastructure, physical safety will depend on a high level of security within the networks, according to professor of Networking Technology Raimo Kantola of Aalto University. It is therefore crucial for young people to be educated about 5G in order for the coming generations to be able to adapt, optimise and meet the challenges of the technological developments in the best possible way and in every part of the world.
Why partner with Ambitious Africa?
Start North is partnering with Ambitious Africa because they feel it is important to provide opportunities for African countries to keep up with developments. More awareness surrounding the technology is needed everywhere.
Start North is a service, not just a bank of information. The community, led by students who understand of other young people, helps make information available about the latest technology more understandable for young people. Start North believes their connection to the top universities and can help accelerate an exchange of ideas between the Nordics and Africa.
The Start North network has access to mentors from partners such as Nokia. During the courses, mentors answer tech-related questions within 24 hours. Start North is eager to tap into the interconnectivity of the Ambitious Africa network in order to learn more about the experiences and insights of students in African countries.
- Together with Start North, Ambitious Africa will be able to leverage the benefits of an emerging technology and improve the super connectivity between continents. By starting 5G Mökkis in African countries, our events will become more widely available to young people in Africa, says Ronny Eriksson, co-founder of Ambitious Africa.
The team behind Start North
The Start North team consists of students and recent high school graduates. 20-year-old Eveliina Lajolinna is head of the course programme and is planning to start studying business administration in Germany. Laura Puusola, 18, is the community manager and will start studying information networks at Aalto School of Engineering this autumn. Lauri Hollo, 20, is the team leader and project manager. He runs the 5G Mökki and works with partnerships and sales.
-Nobody’s a 5G pro yet. Young people need to know what the possibilities are in order to be a part of the change. When we do things, we get answers, Lauri says.
The 5G Mökki is the name of the free virtual learning platform Start North has brought to shopping malls around Finland to allow the public to try out the latest 5G-enabled technologies in an immersive learning environment. The plan is to adopt something similar in African countries through the partnership with Ambitious Africa.
-Eventually 5G will be a part of everyone’s life. If you’re anxious about the development, you can check out online materials and broaden your views, Laura says.
Check out the Start North YouTube channel with 5G lectures.
5G rollouts have been happening fast in countries like the US. But while companies are racing to be the first to adopt the new technology, Start North want to increase cooperation between countries and its learning institutions.
From an education perspective, 5G technology will make online learning more effective. It will allow students to participate in workshops around the world, without as many technical hiccups or the environmental costs of flying. It will improve virtual reality experiences and interactive learning through games, which are used to make learning more entertaining and engaging.
H.E. Bonny Haufiku, Ambassador of Namibia to Finland speaking at the Embassy of Republic of Nigeria during the Ambitious Africa Namibia National Day online event on June 18th, 2020.
Lauri Hollo (Start North), Peter Vesterbacka and Ronny Eriksson (Ambitious Africa) speaking at the online Nigeria event on June 23th, 2020, which was streamed from the 5G Mökki at Aalto Univerisity.
