Arbitraging China's platform economy in the Silicon Savanna

Offering a snapshot of Andrea Pollio’s recent book, Silicon Elsewhere, this talk explores the concept of arbitrage as a central logic shaping Digital China’s presence in Kenya’s Silicon Savannah.

Beyond geopolitical and geoeconomic narratives, Pollio demonstrate how discourses of arbitrage identify and capitalize on perceived temporal and developmental lags between these two geographies, producing opportunities for speculative investment in the platform economy. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research in Nairobi, he illustrates how both Chinese and Kenyan tech entrepreneurs and investors engage in the cloning and adaptation of successful Chinese business models. A powerful belief drives these experiments: that replicating China’s past successes can unlock future wealth and technological emancipation for Kenya.

Rather than asking whether or not these tales hold water as truths, Pollio will reflect on how they perform the value of technology in a world of connections and disconnections - a world where there is not just one Silicon Valley, but many Silicon Elsewheres.

Speaker: Andrea Pollio, Polytechnic of Turin