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South Africa: Knowledge Economy 'Critical' to Growth and Jobs |
| Source: |
allAfrica.com |
| Source Date: |
Tuesday, January 14, 2014 |
| Focus: |
ICT for MDGs
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| Country: |
South Africa |
| Created: |
Jan 14, 2014 |
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"I think Science and Technology has become critical worldwide as a key driver for economy. And I don't think this is just a South African perspective.
"I think we have seen it during the recent recession period. Countries wanted to grow the service industry.
"Countries wanted to move towards a knowledge economy. So I think it is critical and an important starting point for South Africa as well," Pillay said. Through a concept called "techno-economic interface", the department and the World Bank plan to share information that will shed light on how innovative products and services can be used to have market access, and in the process, creating jobs, wealth and growth.
The partnership will also seek to identify pilot projects and initiatives at regional and national levels.
These will include joint pilot initiatives in townships and rural areas.
Some of the pilot projects are already on-going. These include the Cofimvaba pilot project, which aims to improve the quality of education through the use of technologies such as e-textbooks - where government hopes to address the challenges related to the non-delivery of textbooks through the roll-out of tablets to schools.
In 2013, tablets were rolled out to 11 schools in the Cofimvaba area.
Jeanette Morwane, the director of information, communication technology and service industry at the science and technology department, said the pilot -- which also included training teachers on the use of the tablets and the e-textbooks application -- had been successful and said in February 2014, her department will, in partnership with the Department of Basic Education, roll out tablets to 15 more schools.
Asad Aslam, a country director for the World Bank in various Southern African countries, including South Africa, welcomed the new partnership.
"We are very pleased to partner with the Department of Science and Technology to support their efforts to find innovative solutions for improving service delivery, creating jobs and growing the knowledge economy.
"The creative use of science and technology, being pursued by the Department of Science and Technology, can make a real difference in improving the lives of people."
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South Africa: Knowledge Economy 'Critical' to Growth and Jobs Science and Technology is a catalyst for the country's economic growth and the use of innovation will improve the lives of all South Africans It is also important to turn to the knowledge economy to boost inclusive growth to ensure that a dent is put on unemployment poverty and inequality Vinny Pillay the Department of Science and Technology's acting deputy director-general for international cooperation resources said this when her department formalised a partnership that has existed for several years with the World Bank through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding
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