Linking Technology, Innovation And Entrepreneurship At Innovation Bridge 2017

Linking Technology, Innovation And Entrepreneurship At Innovation Bridge 2017

South Africa must adapt its approach towards research and innovation to what a vibrant industrial economy requires. Participants attending the second Innovation Bridge held in Johannesburg recently cautioned that the country needs industrialisation. There is a need for haste in empowering young people through as wide a variety of technological innovations as possible at such a time of rapid change. According to the World Economic Forum, 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that do not yet exist.

Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor, who opened the Innovation Bridge, a technology showcase and matchmaking event, said the time has come to step up efforts to position South Africa and the greater continent as a global leader in the development and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This is required to solve Africa’s challenges whilst opening up new opportunities for socio-economic transformation for all the continent’s people. Minister Pandor notes that Africa has laid a strong foundation in the use of ICTs in the public and private sectors, citing widely circulated evidence that innovations that began in Africa are now spreading across the world. These include innovations such as the use of dual sim card cellular phones or using mobile technologies for the remittance of payments.