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Walter Sisulu University played host to the three-day long NEMISA 2024 Digital Skills Summit which took place in East London from 21 to 23 February 2024.
The summit, spearheaded by NEMISA in collaboration with WSU and Unisa, is aimed at establishing an innovative and collaborative research network for government, academia, industry, education, and civil society.
These entities, and other summit participants focussed on sharing data, research and trends relating to this year’s theme: Digital Skills, Economic Uncertainty, and Employment.
Delivering the summit’s opening address, WSU DVC-AAR Professor Elphina Cishe asserted that the summit presented a unique convergence of minds and talents, aiming to address the pressing digital skills gap in our society.
“Hosting this summit in the Eastern Cape excites us particularly as the vision of Walter Sisulu University is to be an impactful, technology-infused African University. As is the case in other provinces, our digital skills outreach and collaborations extend across a wide spectrum of public partners. This broad network of partnerships underscores our commitment to integrating technology with community development and education throughout the Eastern Cape and beyond,” said Cishe.
WSU and NEMISA have a long standing partnership which constitutes the NEMISA e-Skills CoLab housed at Walter Sisulu University’s Potsdam Campus.
NEMISA Board Chairperson, Molebogeng Leshabane, said that these collaborations were aimed at advancing the imperatives put forward by the Presidential Commission on 4IR.
The commission maintains that the country’s capacity to fully utilize its industrial, scientific, and creative potential will determine its success in the digital economy.
“Failure to respond to the nature of these technological changes as well as their related infrastructural requirements, will pose a threat to South Africa eradicating poverty, inequality and unemployment including the relative wellbeing of South African people and their ability to participate in the world as equals,” said Leshabane.
Echoing Leshabane’s sentiments, Cishe said: “Through a variety of tracks, including Digital Skills and Rural Development, AI and Education, Software and Technology Impact, Data Analytics, and Public Health, we can work together for a significant impact not only within the African continent but also on an international scale.”
Other leaders of industry present at the summit included Deputy Director General: Department of Communications and Digital Technologies Mlindi Mashologu, as well as Philip Thigo, representative of the United Nations’ Advisory Board on Artificial Intelligence.
By Yanga Ziwele
