A multistakeholder operation that consists of academia, industry, government and marginalized communities to facilitate user-driven innovation in the ICTD domain.
This not only empowers the rural communities but also integrates the innovative potential in the rural marginalized areas within the general national system of innovation.
On the 5th of February, several hundred community members of the Mbashe Region (near Dwesa Nature Reserve), staff and students from Rhodes and Fort Hare Universities as well as representatives from industry and government took part in the launch of the Digital Access Node (DAN) at Ngwane Junior Secondary School in the former homeland of Transkei, in the Eastern Cape. The DAN is a point-of-presence of the Siyakhula Living Lab, active in the Mbashe region. The day included speeches given by members of academia, the provincial and district education departments and members of the community. The day also featured song and dance performances by local school children.
The first LLiSA conference is taking place at the CSIR Internation Convention Centre for tow days (23rd and 24th). The focus of the conference is on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Innovation, and this will see the discussions around the nature of IPR in the context of Living Labs and Innovation.
