AI Report on Southern Africa http://misa.org The Technology Sector Pillar: Most AI tools and applications run on the internet; one only requires a good Internet connection and browser to access the AI tools. However, the technology sector of a country plays a crucial role in implementing AI strategies, as every country depends on a good supply of AI tools from its technology sector, which needs to be competitive and dynamic in size. This sector should have high innovation capacity, underpinned by a business environment that supports entrepreneurship and a good flow of research and development (R&D) spending. In addition, the skills and education of the people working in this sector are critical as the level and quality of human capital will determine productivity. Many Southern African countries lack the digital infrastructure to support AI development. For example, Internet penetration within Africa is low and was estimated at 28% in 2022. In Zimbabwe 98 percent of the internet is accessed using mobile phone technology, this was shown in the recent report from the regulator, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ). Figure 1 Extract of the POTRAZ report. This sore state of internet penetration across the region is due to infrastructure issues 8