You are here: > About Us > Media Centre > Current Releases
Solving humanities greatest challenges will depend on how we come together to think out of the box and support the next generation of visionaries who have the answers to tomorrow’s questions.
Consider for a moment that six of the ten biggest companies in the world were founded by young bright visionaries under the age of 30. Whether it is Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft or Tesla the founders all had one thing in common – they dreamt of changing the world at a very young age.
As a schoolboy in Pretoria, Elon Musk, dreamt of rockets and electric cars. At 19 years of age Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook. While Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin realised at 25 they could index the internet to allow for search.
Today these companies are worth hundreds of billions of dollars and collectively employ millions of people across the globe and form part of the business value chain.
Solving many of South Africa’s and humanity’s challenges will need to come from similar visionaries who are capable of bringing their ideas to life. Finding this next generation could have a significant impact on human development and progress from poverty alleviation to health, energy and more.
This is the aim of key players in the ICT sector coming together at this year’s Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) from 21-23 November under the theme "Accelerated digitalisation".
SATNAC brings together leading players in ICT with academic institutions and students who have dedicated their work to solving many of the seemingly impossible challenges humanity faces. These research projects are presented during the conference.
“The main objectives are to showcase the latest developments in the ICT sector worldwide; to host a peer-review and publishing platform for students; and to develop the next generation of innovative technology leaders,” says Head of Innovation and Transformation at Telkom, Dr Mmaki Jantjies.
Partners in SATNAC include global firms such as Accenture, Huawei, Amdocs, ZTE, TCS, CSG. Yahclick, Nokia as well as local ICT leaders such as SGT, CBI ,aria technologies, Telkom Consumer and Openserve that are part of the Telkom Group.
“We want to democratise the search for knowledge, and build pathways for people from all backgrounds to enter academia. We are confident that our collaborations and partnerships will continue to grow and we are confident that it will continue to help us fund research, and help build diversity of skills in key technology areas” says Dr Jantjies.
Research papers presented at this year’s conference will cover areas such as healthcare, rural connectivity, education, sustainable energy, precision agriculture and digital payments.
Dr Jantjies says SATNAC is a parallel development to the Telkom Centres of Excellence (CoE) programme. There are currently 15 of these centres at SA universities, making it the largest coordinated ICT research effort in South Africa.
Prizes, investment and support will be given to those recognised for their innovative work, and to help bring ideas to fruition at this year’s conference she says.
“All attending students will get a chance to present their research, and to build relationships where their ideas can do the most good and get the required support from the industry and government.”
Dr Jantjies says the pandemic has shown that research and development plays a critical role in innovation, and improving the quality of human life.
“The best ideas can come from anywhere and anyone – regardless of their background and the challenges they have faced” she says. Dr Jantjies says SATNAC was part of Telkom’s commitment to ensuring researchers from all walks of life had a platform to share their innovative ideas.
“SATNAC is an excellent talent pipeline in key critical areas such as engineering, data sciences and communication,” says Dr Jantjies. “It also gives us opportunities to collaborate with established researchers at tertiary institutions to solve critical issues for South Africa.”
The innovative solutions on display at the conference are at the forefront of cutting edge thinking which will be revolutionary today but potentially part of our way of life globally in the future says Dr Jantjies. “If you want to know where the next big ideas will come from this is the place to be”.
An example of innovation that has made a difference is the language and artificial intelligence (AI) research that gave birth to Telkom’s izwe.ai natural-language processing technology, which translates voice to text into the country’s local languages.
“This kind of R&D investment parallels our support for innovative technology start-ups further down the line, as young innovators develop their research into sustainable businesses. Often, it all starts with the work and ideas presented to our rich array of partners and stakeholders at SATNAC” says Dr Jantjies.
“We want to support the university projects and individuals who will be the next Google giants or Elon Musk like entrepreneurs of tomorrow. It is our role to foster innovation and appreciate the work and effort it takes to solve some of the biggest challenges facing humanity. Together we are partnering to advance the future of South Africa and have an impact on the world” she says.
The SATNAC conference will be held at Champagne Sports Resort in central Drakensberg with delegates limited to 200 people. However, it will be live on Business Day TV, DStv channel 412.
For detail of the conference visit: https://satnac.org.za
ends
For more information contact: media@telkom.co.za