On 8 May 2025, the BCX Public Sector ICT Forum hosted a morning and evening roundtable to different audiences in Kimberley. The morning session’s topic at the Sol Plaatje University covered: Bridging Academia and Industry: ICT Skills Development for Future ICT Leaders – aimed primarily at final-year graduates. Facilitated by Mpho Hlefana, head of marketing, Alexforbes, its keynote speaker was Vanessa Willemse, acting chief education specialist: E-learning/education, Northern Cape Department of Education, with her address: Bridging the gap: Equipping South Africa’s youth with skills for the job market in the digital age.

Speakers were thought leaders from academia and industry, all sharing the purpose of exploring how to bridge what is taught in classrooms and what is needed in boardrooms, control rooms, development labs, and digital corridors. It’s no longer enough to teach, but, rather, to prepare, train and transform, developing collaboration between agile higher education, government, industry and changemakers, challenging assumptions and implementing actions to build a professional pipeline and a digitally inclusive future.

Action was a clear message, whether designing new curricula, or applying mentorship programmes and internships. Remarks included getting industry players informing academia on trends and industry requirements – incubating academia, enabling them to work with the department of education to create a syllabus that will better equip students with the necessary work tools.

However, it was said that students are also responsible for determining what is relevant – especially through the digital channels they engage on, feeding this back to their lecturers. Conversations around enabling tools such as AI need to take place, with students understanding the tools and that AI will never replace the role of teachers, which is to encourage critical thinking.

Students need to consider all sources of information and career platforms, with information gathering aligned to their capability to select an ICT workstream to meet their individual visions. They also need to leverage networks and mentors for guidance, aimed at leveraging education to create economic freedom. Consideration should be given to how jobs are created, and a degree should mainly be considered a door opener for formal employment and learning.

Industry players emphasise the need for a comprehensive skills development programme. Particular digital thorns are sourcing industry-relevant competencies in AI, cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics, and software development. The disparity between academic training and real-world application remains an employment barrier for many ICT graduates, aggravating youth unemployment and slowing national digital transformation. Attending students were offered a chance to enrol in the free Alibaba Cloud ACT81002 Basic Products Training Programme.

The backdrop to the BCX, ITWeb Brainstorm and Public Sector ICT Forum’s evening roundtable and dinner at the Protea Hotel in Kimberly was that operating under the auspices of a broader national framework that is jointly supported by the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG), Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), the Northern Cape provincial government is advancing its smart province vision that leverages technology and innovation to improve citizens’ lives.

This exclusive evening gathering of minds enabled a candid and action-focused discussion on how to accelerate and build on this vision.

Hlefana, again MC, explained the theme of the evening as: Co-creating the Future of Public ICT, with discussion around leading with purpose, policy, and people at the heart of transformation, building bridges between vision and implementation, and between academia, industry, and government.

Primary calls to action were to formalise the local forum and arrange for people to meet on a regular basis. It was suggested to create a provincial cohort of the PS ICT Forum that reports to a national forum to manage alignment, with a pilot project that can be delivered in the short term with KPIs and a definitive time frame, with the suggestion of a 100-day model.

A further action was for BCX to align with government to refine the existing connectivity strategy document with pricing for business approval, coupled with a tangible, actionable execution plan for a connectivity strategy for the province.

All sectors – public and private – need to be responsible for forming partnerships (PPPs) and driving collaboration and co-creation. The Northern Cape province needs action to seek investment, it being a very large geography with a relatively small population density, making it difficult to see ROI from the many necessary public sector digitalisation projects.

While co-creation needs work in the Northern Cape, with organisations and government working in silos, with transparency, collaboration and partnerships formed at these roundtable events in Kimberly should contribute to how South Africa grows, thrives and transforms the country through technology.

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