THE City has launched several projects and partnerships with business and the information and communications technology industry in its quest to become a world leader in the field.

Opening up the world of technology

FROM its roots deep in its many gold mines, to a manufacturing powerhouse and the financial capital of sub-Saharan Africa, Johannesburg has a new target in its sights: to turn itself into a world leader in information and communications technology (ICT) and other new technologies.

ICT is a wide-ranging term that includes any communications device of application as well as the services and applications associated with running and maintaining those devices.
Johannesburg Executive Mayor, Councillor Amos Masondo at the opening of the ICT hub in Orange Farm. With him are Madelein van den Berg, Kobus Roux, Kagiso Chikane and Chris Morris of the CSIR.

Douglas Cohen, the project consultant for the ICT Support Programme, says, "As part of its role in implementing the Joburg 2030 Strategy, the City's economic development unit is focussing on a number of key interventions over the short, medium and long term."

The Sector Development Programme is key to the 2030 Long-Term Economic Development Strategy and comprises sector clustering and support initiatives.

Cohen says that after much research in 2003, it was decided that the City would actively promote development in the five "high-growth" sectors, which include ICT, the creative industries, business process outsourcing, freight and logistics, and sports.

The sector development programme has been allocated a budget of about R7-million, which will be divided among programmes in the various sectors.

"The purpose of the Joburg ICT Sector Support Programme is to strengthen competitiveness of the sector and to increase investment into the sector within Johannesburg," Cohen adds.

Focus areas include ICT skills development, ICT research and development, promoting investment and trade in the local ICT sector, provision of ICT infrastructure and ICT incubation and venture capital, among others.

"The projects must be catalytic in nature and also be sustainable," Cohen says, adding, "We do not want to become involved in the operation of these projects. That is where business partners come in."

He says there are four projects under way within the Sector Support Programme, namely the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE), the Orange Farm ICT Hub, the Wireless Broadband Connectivity Programme and the Distance Support Project.

JCSE
Launched in May 2005, the JCSE unites the City of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand and some of Joburg's leading ICT and financial services companies.

"The JCSE aims to establish an incubation strategy for BEE [black economic empowerment] software engineering start-ups, and will address the local shortage of specialists, focusing on developing a sustainable base of BEE, SMME [small, medium and micro enterprises] and women operators to lead the local ICT sector," Cohen explains.

The centre can then be used to orchestrate other ICT developments in Joburg, providing the necessary research into emerging technologies.

Orange Farm ICT Hub
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in partnership with the economic development unit and industry, launched a pilot ICT hub in Orange Farm, in 2004.
The hub will be established in a newly built Skills Centre, where technology will be housed, and training and business support services will offered to the local community.

The project is currently housed in the Orange Farm library, with construction of the Skills Centre expected to be complete by mid-August.

The CSIR is training 12 people at the centre - six as business advisers and six as content creators. The business advisers will be responsible for assisting with the development of business ideas while the content creators will be responsible for work similar to desktop publishing.

Cohen says the plan is ultimately to have hubs in other areas where there is a shortage of telecommunications services and infrastructure, including Alexandra, Diepsloot and Tshepisong.

However, the pilot at Orange Farm will have to be tested and perhaps "tweaked" before being applied in the other sites.

Wireless Broadband Connectivity Programme
The use of wireless technology for data and communications is on the increase. It is cheaper, easier to use and costs less in infrastructure set up as well as maintenance.

Cohen adds, however, that "for the development of real competitive capability, Joburg needs to offer broad bandwidth in conjunction with wireless technologies".

This project aims to create a more competitive platform where wireless broadband connectivity creates a favourable environment for large business and SMMEs.

Options are being developed for the City to play various roles, namely in providing infrastructure or information, as well as any other relevant role that may arise in the course of the work, in order to fast track the project, Cohen says.

The economic development unit has met industry players, including big business, major information technology companies and the main telecommunications companies in the country.

There has been a mixed response from the industry regarding the project, with the City aiming to increase competition and reduce the cost of communications, which ranks among the most expensive in the world.

Distance Support Project
This project aims to bridge the digital divide and provide educational, medical, travel and tourism and freight logistics support to people working in areas where there are insufficient skills to support the local requirements, or which lack the required infrastructure.

"For example," says Cohen, "in some areas there are nurses but no doctors, and nurses may require support in making diagnoses. In others, teachers cannot attend teacher training and development and may need to undertake this online."

Through the Distance Support Project, which is still in the feasibility stage, the City hopes to establish multiple partnerships with industry players on short- and medium-term projects.

On the whole, the projects identified for sector support are expected to create new markets and identify initiatives that can stimulate opportunities for local ICT companies, as well as provide the basis for the transfer of IT solutions, so bridging the digital divide.