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.