Namibia must build local high-performance computing capacity in order to improve its creative and innovative thinking capacity to respond to the various challenges and opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
These capacities include big data and analytics, the internet of things and artificial intelligence, Emma Theofelus, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology, said during the Hackathon and Telecom Namibia innovation Week in the capital on Wednesday.
Telecom Namibia (TN) and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) are currently hosting the inaugural Hackathon and TN Innovation Week, which began on 14 October and will end on Friday.
Students and employees will be expected to create mobile or web-based applications to streamline, improve and create new digital customer interactions and experiences that contribute to the overall TN customer experience through the hackathon. Payments; service activation and ordering; fault reporting; theft prevention and detection; and customer engagement are all examples of this.
Theofelus stated that the event is well aligned with Vision 2030, the Government’s accelerator plan and the Harambee Prosperity Plan, and that the Government hopes that this event will accelerate the development of new technologies and solutions, strengthen Namibia’s innovative capabilities and improve the livelihood of Namibians.
“We believe the hackathon results will guide Namibia in achieving our sustainable and developmental goals as outlined in Vision 2030 and thus contribute to the country’s overall economic and social development. It is always a pleasure to be a part of such efforts that seek to positively contribute to national development initiatives, especially now that the government is grappling with projects and programmes aimed at reviving our economy. I am confident that this event will provide us with home-grown solutions to our country’s problems, allowing us to turn them into much-needed opportunities,” she said.
She stated that innovative hackathons provide Namibians with opportunities to discover and adopt new technologies in order to cope with change and overcome current and future challenges in industries and beyond.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
