Ethiopia's Sheba Valley: The case of a burgeoning technology transfer destination along China's Digital Silk Road

Abstract

Given the historical political ideological alignment between China and Ethiopia and the unique friendship the two countries share, the case of Addis Ababa’s growing technology hub and the role of Chinese involvement has raised flags particularly to human rights observer groups in Western nations like the United States. Situated against the backdrop of China exporting of surveillance technology models to host countries along the Digital Silk Road initiative, the U.S.-China race to be the world’s artificial intelligence superpower, and China’s rise as a global economic power, the empirical case study finds itself at an interdisciplinary crossroads of international relations and innovation technology. This thesis employs a mixed analytical framework that employs Oqubay & Lin’s theoretical approach of a heterodox politicaleconomy lens, that acknowledges the way China’s ties with Africa have had an impact on changing global divisions of labor and power, and Brown’s lens on African agency. In the Sino-African relations field dominated by narratives pushing forth neo-colonial depictions of China in Africa, this combined theoretical lens allows for the case of the Sheba Valley to be understood from the angle of how the dynamic with Chinese technology startups benefits Ethiopians, and how Ethiopian technology developers have ownership over their own designs.