Industry 4.0 not an American strategy, Africa to step up as technology evolves

The 4th industrial revolution is not an American strategy, technology is evolving and everybody must be included.

CSIR Research and Development Strategy Manager Dr Daniel Visser stated during a panel discussion in South Africa, citing that the country needed to embrace innovation and become “people-centric”.

“People need basic computer skills in this revolution. Africa must not lose out. By moving forward, there will be certain jobs that will be lost forever, but new ones created too. One thing robots cannot be is human.”Dr Visser emphasized.

The panel discussion was deduced from “Is South Africa Ready for the 4th Industrial Revolution?” topic.

Delegates heard that this revolution was not triggered by profitability.  It is not an invention but a set of paradigms because of a technology revolution.

Dr. Visser said we were likely to see small businesses become critical in this revolution, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

“Our young people are born into an era of technology. They understand it and know it; they up skill themselves purely by access to information. So access to information will revolutionise education and small businesses must be able to access these technologies.”

Delegates heard that people were scared of automation, artificial intelligence and the revolution had the potential to widen the gap between income groups.

“Automation and artificial intelligence is scary but we are not looking at replacing jobs. We need to augment jobs. This revolution is more about convergence and collaboration,” he said.

For this to work, relevant individuals from government, business and societal groups needed to be sitting at the same table at the same time.

SAA CEO Vuyani Jarana, meanwhile, said skills for this revolution were critical so that no one is left behind.  He said poor children needed access to the same digital education as rich children, and that pragmatic action was required from government to move forward.

This revolution, he added, would likely challenge international trade agreements, and an advisory council dealing with different parts of the economy, may be established.

One of the major impacts industry 4.0 will have on the South Africa remains its effects on the country’s workforce and industry. But this technological revolution means some jobs of today will not be in existence in the near future and a completely new set of jobs will emerge. This means that there are possibilities to gain new skills so as to fulfil these exciting new roles.

Industry 4.0 is drastically changing the work landscape, how we live and how we do things but with the involvement of academic institutions, government, private institutions and the South African society, we can ensure that this digital revolution will only impact the country positively.

“There is no place to hide from connectivity. South Africa cannot step aside and not participate.  We need to actively participate and shape South African industries to be more competitive in the global market,” said Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa CEO Sabine Dall’Omo.