“Technological Advancements for Inclusive Economic Growth in KZN”

20 March2020

Background

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies continue to be disruptors in our everyday lives and more so in business operations where technological advancements are changing the way businesses has always been run. Technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics may destroy or disrupt many jobs in the services sector and in labor-intensive industries (Balliester & Elsheikhi, 2018). The feared job losses have materialized in some industries. Evidence shows that there is a dire need for countries to be geared for a rapidly changing environment or risk stagnating or falling behind their peers. In theory, new technological paradigms should allow countries like South Africa to leapfrog some of the older established economies, in practice it would take an immense effort of public sector coordination, education and private sector mobilisation to get the enabling factors in place. By all analyses South Africa is in the unenviable position of having low technological capability, inadequate and stagnating digital readiness and economic complexity that is falling.

It is against this backdrop that the Moses Kotane Institute is hosting the 2020 Summit under the theme “Disrupted industries and Models for Job Creation Summit: “Technological Advancements for Economic Growth in KwaZulu Natal”.