The eThekwini Municipality and its partners Nedbank and the Technology Innovative Agency (TIA) are hosting the Innovation Summit today in Durban, described as the first of its kind.
The Innovation Summit was established to create a platform for networking, sharing knowledge, building capacity and to discuss technology-based social and economic development.
Furthermore, the summit aims to to bring businesses from various fields together to encourage innovation in their approach to doing business as well as launch an innovation programme with their key partners.
According to Anneline Chetty, a senior manager of business support, tourism and markets unit, the effects of climate change, peak oil and poverty needs to be considered.
“By encouraging innovation, creativity and learning amongst our practitioners it is hoped that the municipality will be able to be resilient and adapt to these challenges, converting them into opportunities,” said Chetty.
According to the eThekwini Municipality, South African entrepreneurship is “plagued by sameness, monotony and boredom”.
“In order to achieve higher levels of economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation, more innovation needs to be introduced in the way we conduct business to increase both productivity and profitability,” said the eThekwini Municipality in a statement.
Robert Tucker, president and founder of the Innovation Resource, will be speaking at the Innovation Summit.
He is also an adjunct professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, USA. Tucker is described as one of the world’s most sought after innovation speakers, according to the eThekwini municipality.
