Gauteng’ vision of a Global City Region (GCR) is to build the Province into an integrated and globally competitive city–region with interlinked economies, integrated planning in key areas such as for inward investment, migration, etc. Underpinning the GCR concept is the Gauteng Innovation Strategy which will support a range of innovation related activities including city-based local innovation strategies and systems etc.
TIHMC’s Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) program is directed towards facilitating the implementation of local and regional innovation systems to increase collaboration across all sectors of the knowledge economy. RIS focuses on:
- supporting the establishment of Gauteng as a Global City Region through ‘smart city’ initiatives and provincial innovation strategies;
- building cohesion between local government, businesses enterprises, universities and research institutions through a common vision for regional economic development;
- creating collaborative platforms to promote synergies between public and private sector enterprises and education and research institutions to create wealth, jobs and new service and product innovations; and
- developing clusters to stimulate the development of knowledge-based businesses.
One of the specific projects under this program is the Smart City sub-program with a focus on ensuring a smart “Gauteng” with the following attributes:
- A comprehensive Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and broadband infrastructure.
- ICT benefits are derived in efficiencies in billing, security, emergency communications etc.
- A well-educated workforce with regards to the use of Internet, Mathematics and Science with potential to attract leading edge companies.
The essence of the Smart City sub-program is therefore to support the City Development Strategies and thus the economic development of cities through the use of technologies such as Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and others. Furthermore, the sub-program envisages the formation of innovation partnerships between the cities, local industry and research institutions and Universities to forge a common vision for the cities’ growth and development.