CITICHAT 19/2004

11 June 2004

Intelligent Cities - 2
 

Well, maybe my choice of heading this week is not particularly apt given the chaos caused in the city by Wednesday's major power outage. But the heading merely reflects a continuation from last week's Citichat and is not to be viewed as related to our current state of service delivery! In fact, to add insult to injury, the definition I quoted of 'Intelligent Cities', 'Wired Cities', 'Intelligent' or 'Smart Communities' or  'e-Cities' was  "Those cities that view communications bandwidth as the new essential utility, as vital to economic growth and public welfare as clean water and dependable electricity." Ouch! Dependable electricity? Well, let's not go there!

Joburg 2030 reminds us that the telecommunications sector has been the fastest growing international sector for seven years in a row and its prominence is not likely to diminish given the world's increasing dependence on technology. The report goes on to say, "Intervention in this sector revolves around two axes. First the development of a sufficient effective and efficient telecommunications system to support economies of urbanization and localization for the city and, secondly to establish the City as a telecommunications and ICT hub for Sub Saharan Africa. With 47 telecommunications privatizations in process on the continent, and with massive financial support for telecoms infrastructure projects being made available on the international market, South Africa is well positioned to grow this sector."

OK, so what are we doing?

The Economic Development Unit (EDU) of the city has been looking closely into two specific aspects of ICT. How do we increase the effectiveness of Joburg based firms and how do we increase and retain investment of ICT firms in Joburg? As a result of a scoping study that they completed in 2003, specialist consultants were appointed to identify pilot projects. The pilot projects had to conform to certain principles. These were that they have to be catalytic, sustainable, commercially viable, replicable, partnership-based and able to be rapidly implemented. A couple of weeks back, David van Niekerk, the EDU executive responsible for this sector, revealed the pilot projects at a preliminary workshop.  

The first is the development of a Quality Assurance Centre. The objectives of this pilot project are to:

• Facilitate the ability to test software on various hardware platforms prior to marketing/client handover with special reference to access to platforms, cost and efficiency
• Position Joburg as the African software/content development'/testing hub
• Attract software developers and investors to Joburg
• Increase the economic output of the sector
   

The second pilot is the establishment of one or more wireless precincts. The idea here is to set up a precinct or precincts that will provide appropriate wireless broadband technology and infrastructure to firms, organizations, SMEs and educational institutions within the precinct. Apart from servicing organisations within the precinct, this will also form a base for more technologically advanced urban management related applications to be developed.

The third pilot is the development of a Wireless Community Hub that will be developed in Joint Venture with the CSIR. The objective here is to provide broadband wireless internet access to SMEs located in under-developed areas. This would encourage ICT and business skills development; support the local community by providing 'one-stop' ICT capacity and services; link the hub with various community related satellite sites and to City projects. Practically speaking, the Hub would provide the hardware and software tools, networks, etc off which the community could:

• Establish a telecentre that would provide the local community with phone, fax, e-mail and internet facilities
  enable small DTP businesses to be established to do CVs, letterheads, business cards, brochures, etc
• result in training being provided in computer and business skills, and
• ultimately, business support services could be offered such as market analysis, business and financial planning etc. 
   

This last pilot project encapsulates another quote from last week: - "Being an Intelligent Community is not a matter of technology - it is a matter of creating a culture of use for that technology. Intelligent Communities work to position their citizens, businesses and public sector to prosper in the Digital Age. Rather than trying to prop up dying industries, they eagerly embrace the growth industries of tomorrow. They train their citizens to take advantage of those jobs, provide means for low-income citizens to benefit from broadband, and work to deliver government services in electronic form more cost-effectively and efficiently than ever before. Without these non-technology efforts, the broad-band revolution risks worsening social inequality, reducing economic opportunity and constricting political participation - creating a 'gilded age' in which the benefits go to the privileged few, rather than a 'golden age' of greater prosperity, knowledge and freedom."

 Writing this reminded me of a wonderful story I read in the New York Times when I was in the States early this year. Villages in a remote north-east corner of Cambodia, usually just a collection of wooden houses on stilts, have no electricity nor telephones. However, they moved into the online world when the 13 rural schools in their province, Ratanakiri, were connected to the Internet. The schools have all been equipped with computers which are powered by solar panels. Every day, five days a week, one of five Internet 'Motomen' on cherry red Honda motorcycles, rides past a number of schools on set routes that ensure that each school is visited daily. Strapped to the passenger seat of the pillion of each 'digital pony express' is a gray metal box with a short fat antenna and a computer. The box holds a wireless Wi-Fi chip set that allows the exchange of e-mail between the box and the schools' computers as the motorcycle slowly drives past the school. The receiver box is powered by the motorcycle's battery. So, as the motorcycle drives slowly past the school all the relevant village's outgoing e-mail is downloaded  and incoming e-mail delivered. The newly collected data is stored in the computer on the back of each motorcyle. At dusk, all five Motomen converge on the provincial capital, Ban Lung, where an advanced school is equipped with a satellite dish, allowing a bulk e-mail exchange with the outside world. The roads connecting the villages to the capital are so bad that the average18 mile distances take two hours in a jeep - in the dry season!

One of the unexpected benefits to the communities has been that doctors working in rural hospitals can now e-mail photographs of patients, X-rays, ultrasounds and electrocardiograms of difficult cases to specialists at Partners Telemedicine in Boston who review the information and send back diagnoses, pro-bono.

Great story isn't it! So, exciting times lie ahead, cheers, neil

Neil Fraser is the Executive Director of the Central Johannesburg Partnership (CJP) - a  non-profit company dedicated to the revitalisation and regeneration of the inner city of Johannesburg and a Director of Kagiso Urban Management (KUM) a company that provides urban management and urban regeneration solutions to communities throughout South Africa. He can be contacted at (011) 688-7800/537-0650 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Views and opinions expressed in CITICHAT are not necessarily those of the CJP or KUM. Visit the CJP's web site at http://www.cjp.co.za

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