Industrial development is important as it represents advancement in the earnings potential of a country as a result of an improvement in productivity.  Geospatial technologies and related disciplines are now commonly found as the driving force of many applications and services in industrial and socio-economic development. The current convergence of geospatial technology, location-based mobile services and enterprise information technology is spawning new business services that will drive economic growth and industrial development in the future.

The position paper examines the contribution that geospatial information can make to innovation and industrial development in Africa. It seeks to address the question what geospatial information needs there are for the industries being developed in Africa and shows how geospatial information can contribute to the core factors of an improved industrial economy.  The paper starts with a review of the current situation in Africa in relation to industrial development.  Then seeks to answer the question, how can geospatial information assist in innovation and industrial development in Africa.  The question is answered by considering industrial development from a number of different perspectives such as multi-national companies, governments and individuals.  Then the impact of geospatial information is evaluated in the contest of the World Competitiveness Index.  As a check the impact of geospatial information on understanding the sustainable development goals is also done.   Finally a number of different geospatial datasets are reviewed for their usefulness in understanding where investment should be made for humanitarian relief and industrial development purposes.  The paper concludes with an assessment of whether the question was adequately answered.