Turning Tshwane's Smart City dream into reality

MOST CITIES, or the people who live in them and manage them at any rate, think they're special. But in the case of the City of Tshwane, formerly known as Pretoria, it may just have a point.

Tsietsi Maleho

And the city is now on a mission to transform itself into a Smart City. And what exactly might that be? The Intelligent Communities Forum, based in Toronto, Canada, says four things define smart cities, and they are: a knowledge workforce, broadband connectivity, innovation, and marketing and lobbying force.

Tsietsi Maleho, manager of corporate affairs at the Tshwane-based Innovation Hub, SA's only official science park, runs through this list as it applies to the city.

"We have a knowledge base, this includes four universities - the University of Pretoria, the Tshwane University of Technology, UNISA and the old Medunsa. The city hosts seven of the eight national science councils, such as the ARC, CSIR, Council for Geoscience, HSRC, MRC, NECSA and the SABS. We have a significant medical competence in the city, a strong defence cluster and two of the key Blue IQ projects housed here - the aforementioned Innovation Hub and the Automotive Supplier Park in Rosslyn. Tshwane also boasts one of the highest concentrations of science and technology graduates in the region."

"So, our argument is, we have such an impressive knowledge base, how can we bring it all together to improve the region's competitiveness? And the Smart City initiative is looking to do exactly that," he says.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Maleho driving the Smart City project springs from his firm belief in the role of science parks in catalysing regional economic development in successful cities worldwide. The Innovation Hub, from where this project is driven, has managed to garner the support of the Cooperation Framework on Innovation Systems, or COFISA, between Finland and South Africa. COFISA will use Finland's competence as a world leader in innovation to help South Africa improve its innovation systems, he explains.

Maleho has, on various occasions, visited Finland and met with Finnish experts to discuss their systems of innovation, including the role of government, industry, science parks and universities. On one occasion back in 2005, a team of experts from the City of Oulu, in northern Finland, visited the Innovation Hub, and a twinning agreement between the two cities was proposed, "and that is how we first considered the concept of turning Tshwane into a Smart City".

Oulu is a remarkable city, indicates Maleho, as it has managed to reinvent itself from a city relying on primary industries, such as fishing and forestry, into a high-tech region within the space of a few decades. In May the cities signed a twinning agreement and Oulu has, among other commitments, undertaken to contribute relevant expertise to the City of Tshwane in the coming year.

Maleho credits Tshwane mayor, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, with being instrumental in driving the Smart City project.

WHAT BEEN DONE SO FAR

What defines a Smart City?

1. A knowledge workforce 2. Broadband connectivity 3. Innovation 4. A marketing and lobbying force

"So far, a project office has been allocated at the Innovation Hub, a budget for the project is being discussed (funding will be a combination of city and donor funding), we have identified some key people to run the project, and in a month's time the City of Oulu's support kicks in and their experts will begin helping us to formulate an integrated plan," he explains.

Maleho indicates that the immediate role of the Smart City team is developing an integrated development plan, which will involve industry, research and academic institutions, and government. A baseline study will also be commissioned to develop a skills profile for the City of Tshwane's, define industry clusters, investigate the status of university research and investigate the feasibility of broadband roll-out to citizens, business and government facilities (the City of Tshwane's broadband unit will be integrated into the Smart City programme).

The integrated development plan will then determine what new areas of competence the city requires, and will map out how industry, government and the research and academic communities can cooperate and support with one another to boost the city's economic development.

The platform for interaction between this triple helix, as Maleho refers to it, is the creation of virtual industry clusters, representing industries such as ICT, biotech, defence, automotive and services, among others.

"With this programme, the city will work in an integrated fashion for the very first time," Maleho concludes.