The 8th Biennial Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Conference took place on 2 and 3 November 2022 at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria under the theme ‘Harnessing research, development and innovation for a robust South African economy’.
The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution South Africa hosted a session titled, “Open data for economic growth.

Open data has been a cornerstone of the smart city movement for many years. Smart city technologies depend on open data from city authorities and urban services for much of their core functionality. But the need for open data extends beyond functionality, to the governance environment itself. Open data enables more accountability in government and it is crucial to establishing open and contestable markets for technology in city services.

Globally, many governments have adopted open data policies ranging from general declarations of principles to specific mandates for how data will be treated by the city. The World Economic Forum has reviewed these examples and developed a model policy for open data that could be adopted by cities globally. This session will focus on other global best practices and how the adoption of such policies could enhance service delivery in South African cities.

The session was hosted by the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution South Africa Centre Head, Dr Ntsibane Ntlatlapa and the guest speaker was Dr Pali Lehohla, Co-Director: Economic Modelling Academy.

The Panellists were: Dr Pali Lehohla, Co-Director: Economic Modelling Academy; Dr Gyu Myoung, International Telecommunication Union; Tilson Manyoni, Black Business Council; Abdul Baba, Chief Technology and Information Officer: Infrastructure South Africa Presidency; Rachel Manxeba, Senior Manager Data Architect;  Ms Shabari Shaily-Gerber, Urban Economic Development, British High Commission.