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Our MC Fifi Peters opened the Limpopo edition of the PSICT Forum’s Smart Cities Township and Villages: connecting the future event, by thanking our event sponsor MTN for enabling the discussion around smart cities. This is the second event in the smart cities series, with a special focus on smart villages and townships and how we can uplift our most underserved communities.
The PSICT Forum’s chairperson Madla Mkhwanazi gave an example of drone technology being used to deliver medication in Ghana and also mentioning that our president will be launching a commission of the 4th industrial revolution in an effort advance South Africa.
The delegates were also welcomed by Lesetja Mathiba the Provincial Government Information Technology Officer for the Limpopo Provincial Government. During his insightful welcoming address he stresses the fact that smart cities are complex and South Africa will require smart employees who can be innovative. He said that if we cannot be innovative, we will not get the best results.
The very first speaker for the event William Nepo Kekana, Head of Investment Facilitation at Limpopo Economic Development Agency and Chairman EXCO Sub-Committee on IT Governance at Limpopo Economic Development Agency, stressed the fact that funding of smart villages townships and city projects remain a challenge, but public and private partnership is highly important.
Key taking points for the day were:
Formulating financing strategies for smart initiatives
William Nepo Kekana, Head of Investment Facilitation, Limpopo Economic Development Agency and Chairman EXCO Sub-Committee on IT Governance at Limpopo Economic Development Agency
Facilitating the rollout of ICT infrastructure in rural areas
Lumko MtimdeLumko Mtimde, Chief Executive Officer, USAASA
The skills needs that digitization and smart cities, villages or townships will require
Palesa Antony, Limpopo Provincial Coordinator, mLab Southern Africa
Case Study: the digital bridge as a mechanism for economic upliftment
Seshan Krishnamurti, Independent Consultant
A proud sponsor of the Public Sector ICT Forum, MTN Business is focused on growing partnerships with the public sector to help achieve growth and facilitate government's journey from being efficient to being effective.
MTN Business believes that economic growth and the furtherance of government policies to alleviate poverty are inextricably intertwined with digital technology. As such, digitisation is the only way South Africa will reach its objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals. By enabling a digital future for South Africa through state-of-the-art technology solutions, MTN Business provides the tools with which the public sector can achieve its goals and further South Africa's growth.
These solutions include a full portfolio of the technologies needed by public sector organisations to serve their communities, such as Managed Networks, Cloud , Unified Communications, Security and IoT.
For more information, please visit
www.mtnbusiness.com/za
Click here to express your interest in becoming a member of the Public Sector ICT Forum. Membership is free, with the only pre-requisite that you must be a senior-level public sector ICT decision-maker, so the CIO, GITO or DG/DDG focused on ICT strategy within your government department (national or provincial level) or at a parastatal. Acceptance of your membership is conditional on approval by the executive committee.