Business Connexion (BCX) ran the My World of Tomorrow (MWOT) conference and Expo for the first time last year, and intends to make it a regular event on the South African calendar.

It might seems strange for an IT services company to be getting so involved in a broad-based event of this nature – but deputy-CEO Vanessa Olver believes it is precisely the kind of activity that the company needs to be undertaking.

“It is our core business in a sense,” she says. “IT is playing a significant role in the future. It is instrumental in almost everything that is happening, whether in healthcare, education or manufacturing. In any form or shape, IT plays a role.

“At MWOT, we focus on this future.”

The event also offers a platform to bring innovative South African and African content thinking and creativity to the table, she says, with solutions developed by Africans for the African environment.

It also aims to get young people involved, to start talking about their ideas and sharing the conversation.

“Essentially, it is a platform for innovation,” Olver says.

One of the highlights of the event will be the CEO dinner, ahead of the event on the evening of 21 October,.

“For the last year we have been running a competition, asking innovators to bring their ideas to the table,” Olver explains. “We have selected a handful that we will bring to the table, enabling them to take their solutions further.

“Yes, Silicon Valley has great technology that we can use, but just think of the great things that have been invented in South Africa that are relevant globally and area also particularly relevant for us.”

The innovator’s competition reflects the theme of the overall event, which is the Internet of Things (IoT).

Exhibitors will demonstrate the technology that goes into a connected world, and also the end results – connected cars, self-drive solutions, connectivity in education and healthcare.

Helping to drive the excitement and engage with young people, DJs Sphectacula and Naves will spin disks on the Saturday, while schoolchildren in uniform will be granted free access to the expo.

“The idea is to get people, and young people, excited about technology in their lives,” Olver says.