05 September 2022 &#8211; The 2022 Government Technology (GovTech) conference will see representatives and ministers from various countries in Africa converge in South Africa to share their vision, knowledge, experience and expertise on digitisation, digitalisation, and other topics critical for the acceleration of digital transformation and service delivery in Africa. 



Under this year’s theme: “Digitisation and Digitalisation &#8211; Evolving Government Services,” the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), in partnership with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, will host GovTech conference from 13 – 15 September 2022 at the Durban Exhibition Centre.



The conference will be attended by more than 2500 delegates, bringing together Africa’s ICT experts from the public and private sectors, as well as the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises&nbsp;(SMME) sector to focus among other things, on ICT infrastructure development and how technology can enable efficient dispensing of government services.



Structured in various tracks and topics, the conference program will provide options to delegates to participate in various streams and contribute towards reshaping the ICT agenda in Africa.



The panel and roundtable discussions, promise to be exciting as it includes these areas:



<ul><li>An Enabling Policy Environment for Sustainable Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises;</li><li>Future of Education: How Technology is shaping this key sector for economic and social development;</li><li>Digital Inclusion: What will it take to get every citizen and every government service online;</li><li>The Digital Infrastructure: Collaboration for an African backhaul and data centres infrastructure ecosystem: Key Technologies to Enable African Governments&#8217; Digital Transformation;</li><li>Leveraging the Potential of Digitalisation &amp; Disruptive Technologies for improving government services;</li><li>Technologies for improving government services;</li><li>Sustainable Smart Villages and Cities in Africa;</li><li>Infrastructure and Digital Inclusion;</li><li>Youth in Information Communication Technology;</li><li>“Cyber Security and Protection of the Customers and Citizens and</li><li>“How African States Can Improve Their Cybersecurity &#8211; Policy tools for African governments.”</li></ul>







Several private and public sector experts have been invited. Some of the ministers invited include, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga and Zambia’s Minister of Science &amp; Technology, Felix Mutati.



The event is supported by Microsoft SA as a lead sponsor. Huawei, Sentech, MTN, Vodacom and In2ITfollow as key sponsors.



GovTech, which has been held for 14 years, is the brainchild of SITA. Over the years, the conference, has evolved to become a premiere conference, as a superior networking platform, a hub of strategic ideas and a crucible that pioneers innovative thinking and solutions, to address the developmental and growth challenges in the country.



Molatlhegi Kgauwe,&nbsp;the Acting Managing Director for SITA said through innovation and SMME development,digital technologies open up new avenues for economic prosperity, innovation, job creation, and service access and the more SMMEs are exposed to these infrastructures, the wider the net of opportunities is cast.



“Besides people, infrastructure is the bedrock and the backbone of a country. The synergy between infrastructure development and information technology is critical to enable rapid progress, to leverage opportunities, and to provide solutions to the country and nation’s most pressing challenges.”



As the digital world grows bigger, through cybersecurity, thegovernments have to ensure that citizens can conduct business, communicate, and interact in a safe, agile, flexible and secure environment.



“Ultimately the aim is digital Inclusion and collaboration to enable the continent – wide connectivity and solutions, and to provide skills and service delivery to all so that Africa and indeed South Africa is positioned as a leader of service delivery; in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Kgauwe,&nbsp;



To register for the conference, delegates can visit <a href="http://www.govtech.gov.za">www.govtech.gov.za</a>. Attendees and members of the public across the continent can follow Govtech 2022 by using the hashtags<a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/govtech2022?__eep__=6&amp;__cft__%5b0%5d=AZVDhKhLI4-87zdPH3oU-gSG8Snrj2V93UjKMhd-O6T3rbNBGc4-3X71tzpEhC6V1UAw1h7_7CZrF5QRuLWDXmLhNomJ49BcV4PjbWQXXZCi3udEcT2PRi_Ad35CxvRHsX20tVI5KFDL2Por5YCUW5atn9bUKGqVfCI6KHdR034gGw&amp;__tn__=*NK-R">#GovTech2022</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/techevent?__eep__=6&amp;__cft__%5b0%5d=AZVDhKhLI4-87zdPH3oU-gSG8Snrj2V93UjKMhd-O6T3rbNBGc4-3X71tzpEhC6V1UAw1h7_7CZrF5QRuLWDXmLhNomJ49BcV4PjbWQXXZCi3udEcT2PRi_Ad35CxvRHsX20tVI5KFDL2Por5YCUW5atn9bUKGqVfCI6KHdR034gGw&amp;__tn__=*NK-R">#TechEvent</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/digitaltransformation?__eep__=6&amp;__cft__%5b0%5d=AZVDhKhLI4-87zdPH3oU-gSG8Snrj2V93UjKMhd-O6T3rbNBGc4-3X71tzpEhC6V1UAw1h7_7CZrF5QRuLWDXmLhNomJ49BcV4PjbWQXXZCi3udEcT2PRi_Ad35CxvRHsX20tVI5KFDL2Por5YCUW5atn9bUKGqVfCI6KHdR034gGw&amp;__tn__=*NK-R">#DigitalTransformation</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/techinafrica?__eep__=6&amp;__cft__%5b0%5d=AZVDhKhLI4-87zdPH3oU-gSG8Snrj2V93UjKMhd-O6T3rbNBGc4-3X71tzpEhC6V1UAw1h7_7CZrF5QRuLWDXmLhNomJ49BcV4PjbWQXXZCi3udEcT2PRi_Ad35CxvRHsX20tVI5KFDL2Por5YCUW5atn9bUKGqVfCI6KHdR034gGw&amp;__tn__=*NK-R">#TechInAfrica</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/4ir?__eep__=6&amp;__cft__%5b0%5d=AZVDhKhLI4-87zdPH3oU-gSG8Snrj2V93UjKMhd-O6T3rbNBGc4-3X71tzpEhC6V1UAw1h7_7CZrF5QRuLWDXmLhNomJ49BcV4PjbWQXXZCi3udEcT2PRi_Ad35CxvRHsX20tVI5KFDL2Por5YCUW5atn9bUKGqVfCI6KHdR034gGw&amp;__tn__=*NK-R">#4IR</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/ai?__eep__=6&amp;__cft__%5b0%5d=AZVDhKhLI4-87zdPH3oU-gSG8Snrj2V93UjKMhd-O6T3rbNBGc4-3X71tzpEhC6V1UAw1h7_7CZrF5QRuLWDXmLhNomJ49BcV4PjbWQXXZCi3udEcT2PRi_Ad35CxvRHsX20tVI5KFDL2Por5YCUW5atn9bUKGqVfCI6KHdR034gGw&amp;__tn__=*NK-R">#AI</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/hyperautomation?__eep__=6&amp;__cft__%5b0%5d=AZVDhKhLI4-87zdPH3oU-gSG8Snrj2V93UjKMhd-O6T3rbNBGc4-3X71tzpEhC6V1UAw1h7_7CZrF5QRuLWDXmLhNomJ49BcV4PjbWQXXZCi3udEcT2PRi_Ad35CxvRHsX20tVI5KFDL2Por5YCUW5atn9bUKGqVfCI6KHdR034gGw&amp;__tn__=*NK-R">#Hyperautomation</a> and&nbsp; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/quantumcomputing?__eep__=6&amp;__cft__%5b0%5d=AZVDhKhLI4-87zdPH3oU-gSG8Snrj2V93UjKMhd-O6T3rbNBGc4-3X71tzpEhC6V1UAw1h7_7CZrF5QRuLWDXmLhNomJ49BcV4PjbWQXXZCi3udEcT2PRi_Ad35CxvRHsX20tVI5KFDL2Por5YCUW5atn9bUKGqVfCI6KHdR034gGw&amp;__tn__=*NK-R">#QuantumComputing</a>.



For more information contact:



Head of Corporate Affairs: Tlali Tlali (Mr) Tel: (012) 482-2996 Cell: 082 3333 880 Email: <a href="mailto:Tlali.Tlali@sita.co.za">Tlali.Tlali@sita.co.za</a>

Continent

GOVTECH 2022 BRINGS AFRICA’S ICT MINISTERS AND EXPERTS TO TACKLE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON THE CONTINENT

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South African Minisiter of Telecommunications and Postal Services, the Hon. Siyabonga Cwele spoke to CNBC Africa about the national ICT turnkey strategy.

Minister Cwele on developing ICT infrastructure in SA

As mass urbanisation continues across Africa, putting in place the fundamental infrastructure needed to build smart cities has never been more important. Smart cities are emerging in Zambia, Ghana, Mauritius and Kenya. For all of them, the first hurdle is installing the ICT infrastructure, but the capabilities required to kick-start smart city services and efficiencies reach beyond ICT.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-299183 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Johannesburg_Skyline_Wikipedia.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="943" />
Smart cities don’t just deliver cost savings and efficiencies; creating a sustainable enabling environment can impact economic potential and growth. In Africa, a dearth of infrastructure provides a greenfield opportunity to get it right first time. However, strategic planning will be key to success.
ICT may be the core upon which smart cities are built, but getting buy-in from stakeholders to deliver smart services means building relationships-  putting in place processes and integrating systems and implementing the right controls, security and management systems.
This requires an ICT partner with more than just technology skills. A broad knowledge and experience of industry sectors (from utilities to public sector service delivery, manufacturing value chains, industrial operations and corporate processes) will be essential to co-ordinate, synchronise and integrate systems and technologies as they converge within a single intelligent city hub.
<a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/africas-future-is-urban">UN studies and other research</a> offer alarming predictions: by 2035, the majority of Africa’s people (over 50%) will be urbanised, more than doubling current urban populations in some countries. By 2030, six of the world’s 41 megacities will be in Africa. By 2050, Africa’s slum population will have tripled. Governments will be highly pressured to keep pace with urban development.
Who drives smart city development?
At present, smart city and smart community developments are being driven by developers and through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Governments recognise the need for smart city development and are building it into development policies. However, they face a number of challenges:
<ul>
<li>They must upgrade existing legacy systems to function in a smart city environment</li>
<li>Smart city infrastructure is costly to implement</li>
<li>Service delivery and revenue collection systems must be developed</li>
<li>Services need to be rolled out tactically and in a phased manner to secure a return on investment and ongoing revenues to ensure the expansion and sustainability of services</li>
</ul>
In terms of minimising cost, new greenfield developments remain optimal, with fibre being put into the ground alongside civil infrastructure (water, sewerage pipes, etc.). This is also optimal in terms of determining the distribution of infrastructure for mobile and Wi-Fi providers. Cost can nonetheless stymie progress, which is where PPPs are useful.
Developers are more commercially-minded than governments and are able to target high-income customers, combining infrastructure development with security to secure revenues. This often results in exclusive gated communities. However, in PPP arrangements, developers are extending these benefits in a phased manner with support from government to other segments of the community.
Key elements of smart city success?
The underlying ICT infrastructure is a key element of smart city success. Open access networks will be essential in the long term. Rather than tight network control by individual infrastructure owners, or the complexity that results when many providers attempt to manage their own physical networks and service delivery, an open access network is open to any ISP or service provider. Centrally managed, open access networks facilitate ease of connection to the network, improved controls and high-quality services. And a big plus: open access networks maximise use of the network, maximising revenues and minimising expenditure.
Fully managed data centres will be important. From the infrastructure layer upward, smart city services are usually provided independently. These services include utilities, security, Internet of Things or machine-to-machine services, and analytics. In bigger and more developed countries, multiple datacentres will facilitate interconnects between providers at local and international levels. However, at every level, because everything is powered by technology and connectivity, data centre control must be provided. How these technologies are deployed and aligned to customer needs will determine their success, however.
For example, utilities are already under pressure to deliver. However, with no smart meters rolled out, they are finding it hard to manage demand, integrate and manage clean energy sources (e.g., PV and wind energy), and deliver services. As they move toward upgrading their systems, utilities need to identify high usage clients and align their services to meet these customers’ needs first. This will assist them to deliver lean, optimal and efficient services, which can be integrated with other services as intelligent smart city capabilities expand.
The ICT provider will play a broader role, implementing ICT infrastructure but also co-ordinating between service providers. By ensuring services run on an integrated platform and providing suitable analytics or user apps, or access to these apps on hosted platforms, smart services become available. For example, by integrating electricity, water, sewage and waste collection on a single hosted platform, city dwellers can gain a smart view of service use and rates and taxes. Similarly, with traffic and security data (and possibly IoT and big data) on a single platform, users can identify congestion and optimise their travel schedules.
Implement, manage, orchestrate
As infrastructure is rolled out, citizens connect and services go live, cities will become smarter. To put the fundamentals in place, smart governments and developers will choose partners that have strong technical and technology expertise but also broader integration, orchestration, strategic and management capabilities.
Look for partners that:
<ul>
<li>Have broad industry experience, with an understanding the operations and priorities of different sectors and stakeholders</li>
<li>Can create strong collaborative relationships across and between sectors</li>
<li>Can do strategic planning and service rollouts based on customer needs and stakeholder readiness</li>
<li>Can offer data centre, interconnect and international connectivity</li>
<li>Can facilitate open access models, providing network control, management and maintenance</li>
<li>Offer smart city stakeholders integrated, shared and hosted platforms to flight their services</li>
<li>Have the data and analytics capabilities to enable multi-party services</li>
<li>Can facilitate service provision and revenue collection</li>
</ul>

ICT infrastructure

GOVTECH 2022 BRINGS AFRICA’S ICT MINISTERS AND EXPERTS TO TACKLE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON THE CONTINENT

Minister Cwele on developing ICT infrastructure in SA

Op-Ed: Smart Cities in Africa? It’s not just about ICT

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ICT infrastructure

GOVTECH 2022 BRINGS AFRICA’S ICT MINISTERS AND EXPERTS TO TACKLE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON THE CONTINENT

Minister Cwele on developing ICT infrastructure in SA

Op-Ed: Smart Cities in Africa? It’s not just about ICT

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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