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.

LLiSA conference

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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.

Later today, two panel sessions have been scheduled for the different living labs to share experiences (opportunities and challenges). The Siyakhula Living Lab will be represented by Ms Sibukele Gumbo (the project lead for SiLLMU) and Ms Cynthia Gxarisa (community representative) on the panel discussion.

The key lessons learned that will be shared in the session include:

  • The definite applicability of high-end technology solutions for the rural marginalized communities
  • The importance of managing and coordinating the multi-stakeholder (multi-disciplinary) relationship
  • ICTD takes time and commitment (in the words of Carlos Braga from the world bank - "ICTD is a snail")
  • The importance of engaging the young people
  • The necessity for skills transfer (between the different stakeholders and within the community)
  • Importance of being sensitive to the local context
  • Embedding (aligning) the undertaken intervention within the national innovation systems and national trends
  • The importance and role of the local champion must be understood
  • Impact assessment and evaluation of the intervention
  • The importance of the academia, government, communities and industry partnership (quadruple helix)
  • “that which we call a rose (living lab), by any other name would smell as sweet” (Shakespear)

The presentation for the conference is available here