Given what we know today about the potential beneficial impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we must embrace this historic confluence of human insights and engagement, artificial intelligence and technology, to rise to the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
“This revolution must be harnessed and placed at the disposal of the programme of transformation on which our country embarked in 1994,” says President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking at the South African Digital Economy Summit.
He adds that, for the coming decade, this programme of transformation will be focused on growing the South Africa we want through the realisation of seven critical priorities that apply to all sectors of society:
* Enhancing economic transformation and job creation;
* Improving our education outcomes and skills revolution and ensuring healthy nation;
* Consolidating the social wage through reliable and quality basic services;
* Enhancing spatial integration, human settlements and local government;
* Advancing social cohesion and safe communities;
* Creating a capable, ethical and developmental state; and
* Working for better Africa and world.
“These priorities must be our life’s mission and we must set about it life by life; family by family; community by community; city by city, and province by province,” Ramaposa says. “This moment of renewal in our development trajectory intersects strategically with the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
He adds that government, working with all sectors of society, has set itself the task to pioneer new technologies and take quantum leaps towards the economies of the future, and to drastically improve production levels.
The whose programmatic implementation of the country’s 4IR initiative is led by the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, whose deputy chairperson, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, is an internationally acclaimed researcher in artificial intelligence.
“The Commission is expected to deliver a blueprint and plan to deal with the 4IR and determine areas of development in the short, medium and long-term,” the president says. “This plan comes with the embedded ambition of positioning South Africa not just as an adopter but a leader of 4IR in the world.
“The Commission will explore and advise on infrastructure and resources, research, technology and innovation, economic and social impact, human capital and future of work among others.”
To enable 4IR, Ramaphosa says government has committed itself to skills development to create the human capital required in the digital economy.
“We are introducing subjects such as coding and data analytics at primary school level to prepare our young people for the jobs of the future,” he says.
In addition, 1-million young people will be trained in data science and related skills by 2030. Through partnership with MICT SETA, 1 000 young people are being trained on Data Science, Digital Content Production, 3D Printing, Cybersecurity, Drone Piloting, Software Development and Cloud Computing.
“With these technological innovations, we will develop systems to improve our resources efficiencies in various sectors such as health, utilities, crime prevention, education, transport and others to ensure better service delivery.
Though various support programmes such as the South Africa Research Chairs initiative (SARChI) and other targeted human capital development initiatives (such as DSIDE), the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) is building essential capability in all technology areas underpinning the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
These include programmes in data science and analytics, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum technologies.
Ramaphosa adds the government has committed to providing the infrastructure, including spectrum, that will enable this digital vision.
“Access to broadband and connectivity is a lever to socio-economic inclusion and an absolute necessity,” he says. “Government is alive to this challenge, hence its efforts through the Broadband Connectivity initiative to connect the 22-million unconnected people in the country.
“With our eye on the future, we welcome the recent forecast by Accenture that digital technologies can generate R5-trillion in value for South African industry and society in the next decade,” Ramaphosa adds.
“Accenture anticipates that this value will materialise particularly in agriculture, infrastructures, manufacturing and financial services, with R1,4-trillion created by 2026 alone.”