Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa used the State of the Nation Address to highlight the importance of building a smart city in South Africa.
This presents industry with significant opportunities as the world embraces a digital future.
Read more: SA needs smart cities, just not what you envisage
The use of technology in the 21st century classroom is no longer a want but an essential part of education and learning. Nowadays universities exist as mini towns with the ever-growing connectivity demands. This as students expect to receive all their data and services wirelessly while professors and researchers need to be able to connect easily over the network.
This is why universities need to get connectivity right, and there are a few parallels which can be drawn between their ambitions and those of a smart city, according to networking specialists Aruba.
Read more: ZA: How universities can learn from smart cities about connectivity
Huawei officials underlined the benefits of a smart connected city at the 2019 Shenzhen Smart City Forum, with rapid progress being made in how cities collect and use bid data.
The forum aims to promote communication and cooperation in building smart, digital cities, with MMC for economic development at City of Johannesburg, Leah Knott, attending the event, held at the Shangri-La Hotel Shenzhen on Tuesday.
Africa is a large continent, and investors tend to pick and choose their markets based on a multitude of criteria. Some see opportunities in emerging arenas while others focus on more developed and mature opportunities.
However, while Africa has emerged as a popular site for investors (Ethiopia is a current attention hotspot thanks to telecom privatisation), there remains substantial risk that needs to be considered alongside the significant potential, no matter which market is being eyed.
South Africa is left with 10 years to achieve the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 Goals. These will remain a guide for the next government in terms of areas that need attention. The plan is in place and, therefore, there’s more of a need for implementation.
The country has a unique opportunity to use technology to achieve its goals in the next 10 years. This is what Estonia did to be ranked the second of all countries on the social progress index for personal and political rights.