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The CSIR is participating in an international research consortium, aimed at enabling people in rural areas to participate fully in the research and technology development (RTD) activities that potentially affect their lives. Funded by the European Union's (EU) Framework Programme 6 (FP6), the consortium comprises 30 partners from 15 countries. Researchers from CSIR Built Environment and the Meraka Institute, a national research centre managed by the CSIR, are involved in the project.
Titled 'Collaboration@Rural: a Collaborative Platform for Working and Living in Rural Areas', the three-year project provides a collaborative platform for RTD institutions and rural communities, and aims to develop effective methodologies for the implementation of rural living labs within rural economies.
“Rural living labs are user-centric, real-life research and development contexts, involving people, businesses and public players in the co-creation of services enhancing rural development,” explains CSIR researcher Johan Maritz. “The living labs concept is about RTD institutions setting up long-term relationships with the inhabitants of the real-world context in a way that will ensure active participation by the latter in the research and development (R&D) process. It therefore entails a major paradigm shift for the whole innovation process. This is a natural move for information and communications technology (ICT), life sciences or any innovation domain that deals with human and social problem-solving and people's everyday lives.”
The main objective of the C@R project is to promote the introduction, establishment and maintenance of collaborative working environments as key enablers of sustainable development in rural areas. “In essence, a large part of the project will investigate ICT-related technologies and processes within the deep rural context,” says Maritz. “Another key focus area is the establishment and support of enterprise and service networks.”
The CSIR's involvement in C@R came about after SAP Research South Africa, the local R&D branch of one of the biggest software companies in the world, approached the organisation in March 2006 to explore joint research opportunities in the rural domain. SAP needed a ready context within which to deploy a South African rural living lab and the CSIR had been doing extensive work relevant to this in the Sekhukhune area. The CSIR subsequently joined the C@R consortium as an associated partner.
The technical aspect of C@R comprises three layers, namely collaborative core services, software collaborative tools and rural living labs. “The first layer will encapsulate all core services and resources, such as networks, sensors, devices, software modules and localisation sources, in reusable software components. C@R will therefore be highly customisable in the sense of providing mechanisms to incorporate any proprietary or open solutions, and any standard,” Maritz says. The CSIR's efforts will focus primarily on the third layer, which will articulate rural living labs as innovative research instruments involving rural users, with some linkages to the first layer.
“The user-oriented methodology of the rural living labs will ensure that the highly specific requirements of rural users are met, and will provide mechanisms to gather technical requirements for the project as well as develop and test possible solutions,” Maritz explains. “It presents an ideal opportunity to investigate and simulate ICT solutions and applications in a real, dynamic rural environment and to gain valuable insight into rural ICT needs and practices. The living lab approach also requires a continuous cycle of knowledge generation, application and validation to ensure appropriate solutions are proposed and developed.” The Sekhukhune area in Limpopo has been selected as the location of the rural living lab in South Africa. Various relationships will be set up with small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and other public and private sector role players in the area. The research team will collaborate with these entities on an ongoing basis to ensure the two-way flow of information, knowledge, responses and needs for the duration of the project, and beyond.
The CSIR is using action research methodologies to detail the design and functional requirements of ICT systems that could best serve the collaborative procurement, logistics and support needs of SMMEs in rural areas. In addition, there is a focus on geospatial ICT (GeoICT), looking specifically at mobile telephony, given its potential as a catalyst for linkage, network and operations-focused rural development. Specific attention will also be given to enhanced location, intelligence, mobility, mobile connectivity and logistical coordination, all of which are related to improved accessibility and/or collaboration. “Since it is not possible to study all service sectors, the CSIR's research focuses on the nature of rural health service networks and rural logistics brokering,” Maritz says. “The key question is also how GeoICT can be used to support the strengthening and broadening of health care services offered in rural South Africa.”
Participation in the C@R consortium provides numerous opportunities for human capital development and will contribute significantly to creating linkages with European partner institutions.
Enquiries:
Johan Maritz,
CSIR Built Environment,
Tel: (012) 841-2928,
Email: jmaritz@csir.co.za
Alida Veldsman,
Meraka Institute,
Tel: (012) 841-3321,
Email: aveldsman@csir.co.za
Rudi de Louw,
SAP Research CEC Pretoria,
Tel: (012) 349-3147,
Email: rudi.de.louw@sap.com
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