Information & Communication Technology
MICT SETA & mLab partnership
aims to equip South Africans for opportunities & challenges of Industry 4.0 An exciting new partnership between mLab and the Media, Information, and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA) is poised to introduce several Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related interventions that will equip South Africans to respond to the demands and opportunities of a technology immersed future.
mLab is a technology-focused company that collaborates with partners to create a vibrant and robust innovation ecosystem. The non-profit organisation accomplishes this by identifying and nurturing young tech talent, assisting aspiring tech entrepreneurs and their fledgling businesses, and developing technology that affects change and improves the lives of ordinary South Africans. mLab’s headquarters are in Pretoria, Gauteng, with provincial offices in the Northern Cape and Limpopo. To make its skills academy as accessible as possible, it has academies in Tembisa, Tshwane, Soweto, Polokwane, and Kimberly. It also runs programmes in other Southern African markets and can provide programme participants with access to international opportunities. According to the Education Commission, more than half of the nearly two billion youth worldwide will not have the skills or qualifications necessary to participate in the future, characterised by the convergence and complementarity of emerging technology domains, broadly referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), or Industry 4.0. This dire shortage of skills translates to more than 50% of tomorrow’s human capital being potentially unprepared to enter the workforce. This is bound to worsen existing chasms between those who are prepared for 4IR and those who are not.
48
The partnership between mLab and MICT SETA is set to address this pressing challenge in South Africa through many interventions, including accredited skills training, ecosystem building, workforce development programmes, and public policy. ‘’The agreement between the two parties brings South Africa closer to the National Development Plan; Vision 2030,” says mLab CEO, Nicky Koorbanally. ‘’It is set to boost the economy, reduce unemployment, increase investment, and combat inequality by upskilling and reskilling South Africans to keep up with the rapidly changing labour market.”
The Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA) is a public entity established in terms of the Skills Development Act, 1998 (Act No. 97 of 1998). Its main role is to enrich industry skills set to meet the demands of rapidly changing economies, and new technologies and to promote inclusive economic growth in South Africa within the Advertising, Film and Electronic Media, Electronics, Information Technology, and Telecommunications sub-sectors. For more information, visit www.mict.org.za/
www.futuresa.co.za
