Gauteng Business 2016 edition
The 2016 edition of the Gauteng Business and Investment Guide is the premier business and investment guide for the Gauteng province and the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA). In addition to detailed profiles of key provincial organisations, including the GGDA, the Automotive Industry Development Corporation Centre (AIDC), the Gauteng Investment Centre, the Gauteng IDZ, the Gauteng ICT Park SEZ and Constitution Hill, this edition includes well-researched economic and demographic data on the province, as well as insights into the province’s five development corridors and the new industries and development nodes in these corridors; a focus on Gauteng as a global city region; and key growth sectors for the province.
The 2016 edition of the Gauteng Business and Investment Guide is the premier business and investment guide for the Gauteng province and the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA). In addition to detailed profiles of key provincial organisations, including the GGDA, the Automotive Industry Development Corporation Centre (AIDC), the Gauteng Investment Centre, the Gauteng IDZ, the Gauteng ICT Park SEZ and Constitution Hill, this edition includes well-researched economic and demographic data on the province, as well as insights into the province’s five development corridors and the new industries and development nodes in these corridors; a focus on Gauteng as a global city region; and key growth sectors for the province.
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PROFILE<br />
100% broadband connectivity in the <strong>Gauteng</strong> City<br />
Region (GCR) by 2020.<br />
During his keynote address at the summit, the<br />
Minister in the Presidency, Mr Jeff Radebe, commended<br />
the <strong>Gauteng</strong> province for taking the initiative<br />
to be the first province to introduce tablets in all<br />
high schools with the aim of taking public schools<br />
into the 21st century. He said ICT is considered by<br />
the National Development Plan as critical to the<br />
attainments of its goals of economic growth and<br />
improved the provision of services. “This is what I<br />
call leadership and this can only be expected from a<br />
province such as <strong>Gauteng</strong>, our economic heartland,”<br />
said Radebe.<br />
At the same event, <strong>Gauteng</strong> Premier, David Makhura,<br />
urged the private sector to train more young people<br />
to take up jobs and other economic opportunities<br />
within the ICT space and partner with Government<br />
to achieve the province’s ICT goals. He said, aligned<br />
with this, the <strong>Gauteng</strong> Provincial Government has<br />
adopted a five-pillar strategy “to transform <strong>Gauteng</strong><br />
into a ‘Smart Province’ and a Connected Global City<br />
Region”.<br />
Through this strategy the GCR will seek to:<br />
• Build an enabling broad-band infrastructure for<br />
a connected government.<br />
• Create an enabling platform to deliver e-government<br />
services.<br />
• Establish a <strong>Gauteng</strong> City Region structure to coordinate,<br />
standardise, regulate and prioritise the<br />
implementation of our e-government initiatives.<br />
• Promote the use of e-government services across<br />
the board—by government, citizens and the<br />
private sector.<br />
• Stimulate the ICT economy by encouraging<br />
public, private partnerships for the development<br />
and roll-out e-government services.<br />
ICT presence in <strong>Gauteng</strong><br />
Being the digital hub in the country, a range of ICT<br />
activities is undertaken within the province, including<br />
hardware manufacturing and software design,<br />
and various service offerings such as software management,<br />
systems programming and technical support.<br />
A number of international giants, including<br />
Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, ICL, Cisco and<br />
Unisys, have a strong presence in <strong>Gauteng</strong>, where<br />
they operate alongside South Africa’s own ICT firms.<br />
With a view to drive growth within the ICT sector,<br />
the <strong>Gauteng</strong> Provincial Government has introduced<br />
a programme that provides mentoring support and<br />
venture capital for the commercialisation of technology<br />
firms. The provincial government has also established<br />
a science park in the form of The Innovation<br />
Hub (TIH). The City of Tshwane has an Innovation<br />
Office based at TIH. The metropolitan municipality<br />
already has a fibre optic network infrastructure that<br />
hosts two technology-related projects, TIH and ASP.<br />
Innovation in the sector will be further encouraged<br />
by the newly established mLab, a centre designed<br />
to support entrepreneurs in the mobile-technology<br />
field. The CSIR in Pretoria hosts the mLab facility<br />
together with TIH. At a national level, the National<br />
Treasury has introduced the South African Vanguard<br />
of Technology (Savant) programme in order to provide<br />
marketing support to the South African ICT and<br />
electronics sector and improve the level of awareness<br />
of the local sector.<br />
ICT Development Strategy<br />
Showcasing its commitment to the development<br />
of the digital economy, is the impressive 45-page<br />
<strong>Gauteng</strong> ICT Development Strategy, providing a plan<br />
and platform to unlock new economic opportunities<br />
for growth and development.<br />
According to the strategy, the New Growth Path<br />
has identified rapidly extending access to, and use<br />
of, ICT based on a continual and rapid reduction in<br />
broadband costs, as part of the technology policy.<br />
In this light, the <strong>Gauteng</strong> ICT Development Strategy<br />
aims to foster realisation of the potential value that<br />
information and communications technology<br />
can bring to employment, growth and economic<br />
development in <strong>Gauteng</strong>. It derives its foundations<br />
from the <strong>Gauteng</strong> Employment, Growth and<br />
Development Strategy, which focuses on the need<br />
71 GAUTENG BUSINESS <strong>2016</strong>