The world is getting more exposure to Africa because of technology, and Africa technology is full of returning diaspora, according to Jasper Grosskurth, a specialist in African markets, futures studies and sustainability assessment.

In a TEDxJohannesburg 2014 talk, Grosskurth talked about the future of mobile communications, fiberoptic connectivity, startup incubators, road networks, flight hubs, electricity and renewable energy.

“The technology business is full of returning diaspora,” Grosskurth said. “You’ve got a more diversified capacity — a larger elite and a more diversified elite and I see that in literature and art and entrepreneurship and academics. There’s a new generation of an intellectual elite that is literally pan-African.”

African futures depends largely on how Africa is going to deal with its technology, Grosskurth said. A positive future requires an engaged and democratic public to work the technology to the benefit the continent.

Grosskurth is managing director at Research Solutions Africa Ltd. He wrote “Futures of Technology in Africa” in 2010.