CITi and IEEE bring top people to 3rd Software Engineering Colloquium
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Non-profit organisation, the Cape IT Initiative (CITi) and the IEEE Computer Society Chapter (IEEE South Africa Section) are bringing together industry, government and academia to discuss the growth and future of software and software engineering at the third Software Engineering Colloquium in Cape Town on 16 March 2010.
This Colloquium aims to establish tangible and immediate programs to build the South African software industry and create value through engineering.
“One of our primary aims is to put local software engineering on the map,” explains Jenny McKinnell, CITi’s executive director. “And to help achieve this, we have asked some very high-level individuals in the industry to partake in the Colloquium.”
Some of these role players include Prof Sonia Berman, Head of Computer Science Department at the University of Cape Town; Prof Johannes Cronje, Dean of Informatics & Design at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT); Prof Nico Beute, Former Dean of Engineering at CPUT; Jo-Ann Johnston, Chief Director of Trade and Sector Development for the Provincial Government of the Western Cape; Jenny McKinnell, Executive Director of CITi; Dr Joseph Balikuddembe, Systems Analyst for Sanlam Personal Finance; Dr David Hislop, CTO of Korwe Software, and Sian Evans, Attorney at Michalsons, Sian Evans & Associates, among others.
Attendees will include professors, lecturers and students from UCT, the University of Stellenbosch, the University of Western Cape and CPUT, as well as representatives from industry and government.
The technical advisory committee has been meeting extensively over the past few months, and has identified pertinent issues through a series of conversations and eight multi-stakeholder roundtable discussions.
While the Colloquium is not exclusively aimed at software engineers, the agenda is being driven by them. The engineers believe that without the software engineering profession being adequately recognised and accredited, there cannot be a continued growth of world-class software creation locally.
“The bottom line, is there are real people doing real work in this country in terms of software engineering,” says Dr David Hislop, CTO for Korwe and IEEE Senior Member. “They need to be not only recognised, but empowered in the industry.”
Some of the key issues that the technical team believes need to be addressed include the reference model of the Cape software industry; the ICT skills crisis and skills pipeline; innovation, research funding and access to capital; rewards and recognition for software innovators, inventors, designers and architects; legal compliance, IT governance and King III; and the professional recognition of software engineers. Agile development, cloud computing,and open source (FOSS) will also be discussed.
In a survey commissioned prior to the 2007 Colloquium which included input from SMEs based in the Western Cape, as well as software customers and development partners from the bigger enterprises, government departments and training institutions, issues surrounding a shortage of skills arose. “In terms of the supply of skills locally, it has been stated generally by respondents that there is definitely a shortage of adequate skills from the local employable workforce and that it hence makes sense to hire expatriates or even sometimes repatriate skilled workforce from overseas,” the report stated.
The report also highlighted a gap between what is being taught and what is needed by industry identifying “intellectual laziness for innovation and continuous learning” as a major cause of the brain-drain of the ‘gems’ and stagnation of average skills locally.
“Today, three years after the Second Colloquium, the ICT skills crisis remains an issue of critical concern to our industry and academic institutions,” says McKinnell. “It is clear that addressing the issue requires that we speak as one voice and take action. We are hoping that the discussion at the Colloquium will result in the creation of a multi-stakeholder initiative to grow the skills pipeline.”
These issues and more will be addressed and explored at this year’s Colloquium.
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Take your venture to SxSW without getting on a plane
Ok…things are getting a bit frazzled here, as final arrangements are made by the delegation on its way to SxSW…but a whole bunch of excitement is in the air.
As a final “push” to push S Africa on the unsuspecting attendees, I would like to give each SAfrican delegate 30 badges of South African startup logos (one badge=one logo; one delegate=30 badges). They can do with them as they wish…put it on their computer bags, tshirts, give away. Whatever.
If you have a startup, and a logo, and want to send it SxSW…send it to me as a file. We’ll make it happen.
(Well, I hope we’ll make it happen. Someone has to foot the R3,000 bill. If anyone wants to sponsor this, and get a *big* badge of *their* start up at SxSW…give me a call!)
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Crowdfund launches! Let’s go!
I have been thinking, dreaming and scheming up this idea for months, and I have finally co-ordinated my life well enough to make this a core project for the next 12 months.
The Crowdfund concept is simple:
Pool the money of 1000 South Africans who invest R1,000 each towards a R1 million angel fund to help online start-ups get off the ground.
There is hardly any decent angel investment network, or even an angel investment culture, in South Africa. That has had devastating consequences the local online industry, and we are paying the price by not launching many (hardly any?) online applications with global appeal.
An angel network is crucial, because it provides the capital to startups to develop ideas into prototypes. Those ideas can then be taken to a more formal investment vehicle, like a venture capitalist, who is eager to invest more money, but only toward a proven concept.
The logic goes like this: Out of 10 companies in which a Venture Capitalist (VC) will invest, about six will fail. Two or three might break even. And one or two will be hugely successful, and will make the entire investment in the ten companies worthwhile. Problem is: you really do need to hedge your bets. Which is difficult to do, if there are no startups to choose from.
The Crowdfund aims to fix that. Not only do we want to change the investment mindset of an angel investor, but we want to encourage the development of good, solid, viable and huge-potential ideas, that can then be launched on the global scene with the help of local or international VCs.
It won’t happen if you don’t get involved. We need a crowd to make the Crowdfund work!
If you are intersted to find out more, please visit the website www.Crowdfunding.co.za .
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Personera.com ’s story
Sheraan Amod writes on the ISLabs blog about how he founded Personera, “a personalized publishing service offering useful print products enhanced with Facebook content“.
Sheraan’s story is one of those that any budding South African entrepreneur has to love: the concept of Personera is innovative, unique and has global potential and reach (in fact they do have customers from around the world). It is the first project launched under the SiliconCape banner, and they have a bridge to the global markets via Vinny Lingham who is an investor in the startup. They have been covered in the international media, including Techcrunch.
I will be watching them with keen interest, mainly because we really do need success stories, don’t we? And they have managed to overcome the hurdles that most local startups face, mostly with ingenuity and hard work. So it can be done 
Mostly, though, I will want to see where they go from here…and I mean “where”, literally. Will they stay in Cape Town and manage to run a global startup from Africa’s tip, or will they consider it worth their while to move to San Francisco (for instance)?
Either way, I am keeping tabs Think I will create a separate category about “Companies to watch”, and will then follow my own advice.
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Netprophet signups open
Registration is open for this years Netprophet. I missed the one last year, but I am definitely going to this one – it’s happening May 13, and if last year is anything to go by, it is guaranteed to be a hit.
Oh, and the conference is FREE. So register now!
This off their website:
Take the most innovative/successful/creative/ambitious thinkers and entrepreneurs in the Internet space, and ask them to share their stories, ideas and predictions for the future in a format that is fresh, relevant and engaging. The result: Net Prophet.
Planning is well underway for our 2010 event. Although the date is set (so you can clear your schedule for that time) we can’t give away all our secrets just yet. What we can predict however, is an event double the scale of Net Prophet 2009, new prophets, appearances from previous prophets, an after-party of epic proportions and some interesting surprises along the way…
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Cape Town Startup Digest
Sheraan Amod is the curator for the Cape Town Startup Digest (it’s not affiliated with the GeekDigest, which you are now reading). It’s a Techcrunch project, run all over the world. In Sheraan’s words:
Basically, it’s a weekly digest of the best startup events happening in the Cape area, emailed to you every Monday. It’s the fastest and easiest way to know what’s happening in the tech/web/startup community.
Personally, I think it’s a fabulous idea, and I hop it takes off. Ideally, I think we should have one for the entire country, but I guess doing it by city is the default.
If you want to receive the digest, please sign up at thestartupdigest.com, and if you know of events happening, please send Sharon the link or additional info.
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