10 The Impact of ICTs on Innovative Sustainable Development in East and Southern Africa Gabriel Kabanda Zimbabwe Open University, Harare Zimbabwe 1. Introduction The major problem of under-development in Africa characterised by the huge challenge to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is on knowledge empowerment supported by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Information has become a strategic resource, a commodity and foundation of every activity. The emergence and convergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has remained at the centre of global socio-economic transformations. If implemented properly and carefully, these technologies could reduce or eliminate the imbalance between rich and poor, and powerful and marginalized. The productive capacity of a country is determined by the quantity and quality of its factors of production. Infodensity is the sum of all ICT stocks, mainly as capital and labour. According to UNCTAD (2006), 1% increase in Infodensity resulted on average in 0.3% increase in per capita GDP. The increase in infodensity over time is illustrated below in Figure 1. Baliamoune-Lutz (2003) conducted research using data from developing countries and examined the links between ICT diffusion and per capita income, trade and financial indicators, education, and freedom indicators. Internet hosts, Internet users, personal computers and mobile phones represent indicators of ICT. It is important to assess the adoption and diffusion of ICTs in key sectors of the economies of Southern and East African countries, and to collate basic information about the actual and potential applications of ICTs in order to have a clear understanding of the specific policy environments and sustainable capacity requirements. Some researchers argue that the transfer of ICTs to developing countries may not contribute to economic development the same way it did in industrial countries, and that it may be best to localize technology and focus on its use in education (Baliamoune-Lutz, 2003) and sustainable development of economic growth. Diffusion is the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. It is a special type of communication, in that the messages are concerned with new ideas (Rogers,2003, page 5). Innovations diffuse through a social system explained by the diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 2003). Diffusion of innovation is a theory that analyzes, as well as explain, the adaptation of a new innovation. The purpose of this theory to the research is to provide a conceptual paradigm www.intechopen.com