Innovation safari

COMPUTING GIANT IBM is on the hunt for big game in the African market, "the last truly untapped growth market" for the ICT sector. To this end, it`s spent about $120-million (about R956.6-million) on its African operations over the last two years. This investment has produced an African Innovation Centre (AIC), a cloud computing centre, and an IBM Business Continuity and Recovery Services facility, all based in Johannesburg, and resulted in the donation of a $1.5-million Blue Gene supercomputer to the Meraka Institute.

To crown it all, IBM has now created a post for a chief technology officer for Sub-Saharan Africa. Clifford Foster, a South African recalled from a stint with IBM in the UK, is the first to take on this challenge, which entails driving Big Blue`s R&D initiatives and investment in the region.

TAKING UP THE CHALLENGE

"The reason I came back to South Africa from the UK is to take up the role. I`m excited about its scope - I feel I can make a difference," he says, in contrast to the UK, "where IBM is a well-oiled machine".

Foster says he started his career as a 12-year-old hobbyist programmer, worked his way up to enterprise architect and management consultant, eventually becoming an IBM distinguished engineer (there are only about 400 out of nearly 400 000 IBM employees worldwide).

"Although as CTO I will have a number of roles, my focus is going to be Africa, and driving innovation throughout Africa. It`s not a case of IBM making innovation happen, because innovation is already happening in the region - ideas are often borne out of a need in a particular geography. The question is how can IBM support this innovation by providing the necessary infrastructure, mentorship and new solutions to take it to the next level," explains Foster.

IBM will provide much of its support to parties to this innovation - be they private, public or academic - through the AIC. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the company`s strategy is to get university graduates more involved in a formalised innovation process.

NURTURING BRIGHT SPARKS

To this end, Foster is driving several projects: the creation of extreme blue - or speed - teams, which means bringing students into IBM`s labs, setting them up with a project manager and mentor, and getting them to develop an innovative concept, bring it to fruition, and possibly even patent their technology. "This hasn`t been done in South Africa before," he says of the plan which should be unveiled in mid-2009.

Secondly, IBM will be extending its cloud computing offering, the first client deployment being the University of Pretoria. Foster intends expanding this service to other SA universities so that they, in turn, can offer a more service-oriented approach to research.

Thirdly, IBM will be taking its AIC concept to the University of Nairobi, setting up a laboratory there by early 2009, and possibly in one or two other African countries, such as Nigeria, later in the year.

Finally, given the success of previous ventures into Second Life, IBM will be unveiling a Second Life island for Sub-Saharan Africa in January. This island will provide a venue for virtual collaboration, and the universities of Pretoria and KwaZulu-Natal will be the first centres enabled to build and deliver projects in a virtual world.

Foster acknowledges there will be challenges in the pursuit of innovation.

"If I had to pick a single challenge that`s going to be fundamental to our programme, it`s being able to harness the skills available at the universities on the continent, and mentoring and nurturing them," he says.

"Similarly, how do we recognise and nurture innovation that`s already happening and how do we as IBM support them. After all, IBM South Africa is now the headquarters for IBM in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is responsible for nurturing the growth potential that IBM sees in Africa," concludes Foster.