|
The first day's panel on information society, open innovation models and smart partnerships was a great mix of Finnish and South African expertise; from left, Helena Tapper, Embassy of Finland; Mmboneni Muofhe, DST; Alfredo Terzoli, Rhodes Centre of Excellence; Tarmo Lemola, Advansis Oy; Aki Enkenberg, CFI; Minna Takala, Nokia Corporation and Luci Abrahams, LINK centre, Wits University |
The first yearly conference of the South Africa-Finland Knowledge Partnership on ICT (SAFIPA) held on 8-10 June 2009 at the Farm Inn, Pretoria, has been hailed as a success by funders of the SAFIPA programme and the 200 delegates at the event.
Hosted by the CSIR's Meraka Institute, SAFIPA is a bilateral project between the governments of South Africa and Finland. It aims to support the creation of an environment that facilitates the development and deployment of ICT service applications for the benefit of South African citizens.
The event drew a number of dignitaries at the opening, including the Ambassador of Finland, Heikki Tuunanen. Themes for each day - ICT and education; incubation models for South Africa; Living Labs and local innovation; community connectivity models; improving health service delivery by means of ICT; and e-government and service - provided the necessary focus for meaningful presentations and interactions.
Panel discussions and keynote addresses set the scene for each day. Speakers included well-known local academics Professor Peter Clayton of Rhodes University and Luci Abrahams of Link Centre, Wits University, and Finnish presenters, such as Tarmo Lemola of Advansis Oy, of the leading information society consulting firm in Finland, and Minna Takala of Nokia Corporation.
The context for the event was twofold: on the one hand, Finland's phenomenal success in growing its knowledge economy through information society interventions, and on the other, the challenges and successes experienced in South Africa, where much is being done and still needs to be done to develop the local information society. The panel discussions introduced a range of ideas on how to stimulate innovation through social networking and the importance and power of smart partnerships, embodied by the so-called triple helix (a relationship between academia, industry and government).
As organiser of the event, the SAFIPA team was delighted that "we had the right people there". The mix of delegates from government, academia, non government organisations and entrepreneurs ensured a good discussion on the floor and productive networking.
One of the most successful slots on day two was the elevator pitch session, during which various start-up ICT entrepreneurs pitched projects to the audience. This required participants to 'sell' their unique value proposition within a time limit determined by the average time spent in elevator trips during business hours. Andi Friedman's presentation of a service called Mobile Researcher won him the prize sponsored by Nokia.
Helena Tapper, counsellor: Information Society for Development, Science and Technology of the Finnish embassy, congratulated the team for organising an excellent event. "This was beyond any conference I have attended," she concluded. This sentiment was echoed by Mmboneni Muofhe, General Manager of International Partnerships and Resources of the Department of Science and Technology who also chaired the opening session.
Building on this event, SAFIPA plans to hold workshops based on the
themes of the conference. "We believe that this will assist existing
projects to expand and grow," says Kristiina Lähde, chief technical
advisor of SAFIPA.
To date, SAFIPA has selected some 18 projects for funding and/or technical support, all of which are aimed at developing products and services. Some of these projects promise immediate, here-and-now applications, while others require a longer period and capacity building to come to fruition.
One early starter is the SAFIPA-funded Meraka code sprint project. A
code sprint is a short period assigned for programming on a specific
task. The CSIR's Meraka Institute set this event for the winter
vacation in 2009. Ten selected participants are working on two open
source code sprints, with the purpose of delivering on the set tasks,
and learning via the guidance of a skilled technical leader.
Other SAFIPA-supported projects, which will also be presented at the conference, include a presentation of the Nokia Mobile Education math pilot project, 'Where's my shuttle?', which will deliver commuter support via SMS in Cape Town, and SocioTech, a collaborative project between three local universities and a Finnish university to work on information technology curricula in the South Africa e-health context to deliver products and services aimed at home-based healthcare.
The Living Labs in Southern Africa (LliSA) initiative held its meeting
at the conference. Discussions focuses on its planning for the next six
months, which included supporting existing Living Labs as well as
emerging ones. "The Living Labs model provides a platform for
universities, private sector and communities to identify emerging
innovation and develop solutions," says Ashraf Patel, national programme
coordinator of SAFIPA, "SAFIPA looks forward to supporting unique
solutions emerging from local Living Labs."
The next SAFIPA event will coincide with IST Africa 2010 in May 2010 to be hosted in South Africa by the Department of Science and Technology. The IST-Africa initiative has successfully hosted four events in Africa to date; it drew over 480 delegates from 51 countries (African and European) at IST-Africa 2008. The series brings together representatives from leading commercial, government and research organisations around the world to bridge the digital divide by sharing knowledge and experience, and promoting international research collaboration between Europe and Africa.
Enquiries: CSIR Communication
|
