Mobility Futures Workshop Report With Mobility Capacity Building Needs Report as Attachment Public

8/8/2019 Mobility Futures Workshop Report With Mobility Capacity Building Needs Report as Attachment Public

1/24

Recommendation Report on

Futures Lab conducted on Mobile Devices in Africa

Prepared for SAFIPA

July 2010

By

Mobile Tools

&

The Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability

Contact Details:

Audrey Verhaeghe Henra Mayer

Tel: +27 12 844 0670 Tel: +27 12 844 0671

Cell: +27 82 578 0728 Cell: +27 82 323 7447

E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected]

Website: http://www.riis.co.za


2/24

i

FUTURES LAB IN ICT MOBILITY IN AFRICA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ......................... ............................ .................... ................... 1

2. FUTURES LAB APPROACH ....................... ......................... .......................... ........................... ........ 2

3. STORIES FROM THE FUTURE ......................... ............................ ..................... .......................... ........ 3

4. OBSTACLE ANALYSIS ......................... ........................... ........................ ........................ ................ 6

5. TRANSFORMATIVE PROCESSES..................... ........................... ....................... ........................... ... 7

6. QUICK- WINS .......................... ...................... .............................. .................... ............................ ... 10

7. CONCLUSION ........................... ...................... ............................ .................... ........................... . 11

8. RECOMMENDATIONS .......................... ....................... ........................... .................... .................... 11

9. ANNEXURE A: REPORT ON THE CAPACITY BUILDING NEEDS FOR SMMES AND OTHER ROLE PLAYERS

IN THE MOBILE SECTOR ......................................................................................................................... 15

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 1: Summary of obstacles...........................................7

Table 2: Transformation process categories.......................................8

Table 3: Summary of transformation processes......................................9

Figure 1: Futures Timeline.......................................................................................................................10


3/24

1

Recommendation Report on theFutures Lab conducted on Mobile Devices in Africa

1. INTRODUCTIONANDBACKGROUND

In May 2010 the South Africa and Finland knowledge Partnership on ICT (SAFIPA) contracted the

Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS) and Mobile Tools to conduct a futures lab on

the use of Mobile Devices in Africa. The purpose of the futures lab is to encourage communities and

organisations involved in innovation/ ICT and mobile devices to consider the future of mobile devices in

Africa.

The theme of the futures lab was the future of Mobility in Africa in 2049 This report presents a

synthesis of the outputs of the futures lab held on 1 and 2 June 2010 for the ICT Mobile sector.

Futures thinking methodologies, as applied in the futures lab, are used because:

Futures thinking is inherently proactive, reflecting the belief that the future is influenced bytodays decisions and actions;

Futures methodologies do not provide predictions and recognise that attempts to address thefuture necessitates the management of uncertainty;

Futures methodology strengthens integration between national level policy, innovation-relatedpolicy and support measures at local level and in organizations;

Futures methodology supports the creation of platforms that can enable triple helixcooperation;

Futures methodologies are a recognized means of developing regional ecosystems forinnovation as they support the building of shared strategic visions, increase Triple Helix

collaboration in the industry sector and support planning efforts; and

Futures methodologies develop a well-informed context for current decisions by means ofdialogue involving all stakeholders.

In light of the above, 240 individuals from large and small businesses, academia and government were

invited, of whom 49 actually participated in the futures lab. Two virtual and physical networks consisting

of industry, academia and government were directly leveraged and engaged in the futures lab

programme. These are the SA Innovation Network (SAINE) and the Mobile Monday Network (Mo Mo

network). SAINE is a network of innovation players that spans the Triple Helix in Southern Africa. Mo

Mo is a network of practitioners and persons interested in mobile technology. Members of both SAINE

and the Mo Mo network were invited to participate. The futures lab was pre-empted by an informal


4/24

2

discussion at a Mobile Monday Network event dealing with the future of mobility in Africa held at

Melrose Arch in Johannesburg. All those who participated in the networking event were invited to

attend the futures lab discussion.

SAFIPA created the capacity to conduct the Futures lab in the Meraka Institute of the CSIR. The Meraka

institute provided its time and expertise in leading the futures lab.

2. FUTURESLABAPPROACH

The futures lab was conducted as Phase One of a two -phase project on behalf of SAFIPA.

Phase 1: In this phase (1) a futures lab was conducted and (2) recommendations were made on the

development of the ICT mobility capacity-building program through capacity-building interventions and

the building of a Mobile ecosystem and platform.

This phase included:

Setting the scene with invitees widely distributed on the SAINE and Mo Mo networks; A Mo Mo Network futures event in which two Finnish mobility experts shared their views on the

future of mobility in Africa;

A two-day futures exercise with the Meraka Institute and SAFIPA. The Finnish experts remainedin SA to participate in the event. Forty nine (49) role players in mobility representing the Triple

Helix participated in the Mobility in Africa futures exercise. The capacity to conduct the

futures lab was created in the Meraka Institute and Meraka graciously offered its time and

expertise in developing the content of the Futures Lab. Two Finnish experts from Idean and

Nokia participated in this session, sharing their views on the future. The World Banks

representative for ICT Mobility also participated by means of a Skype session.

Process:

The following process was followed:

o Participants participated in an icebreaker about the future;o A Paradigm DVD was discussed;o A participatory session about themes for 2049 took place;o A participatory session was held in which actors, issues, obstacles and drivers for the

main themes were identified;

o A futures story-creation session was conducted;o A technology map for the period 2010 to 2049 was created; ando Quick wins were unpacked in terms of actions, role players, policies, business models

and education;

SAINE and Mo Mo consulted with their members regarding the capacity-building needs inmobility in the African context; and

The outcomes of the futures exercise were disseminated on the SAINE network.


5/24

3

Outputs:

The following outputs resulted from the exercise:

A Mobility in Africa futures recommendation report; and An ICT mobility capacity-building programme document.

Phase 2: The recommendations made in Phase One will be developed and delivered during Phase 2.

An ICT mobility futures lab and capacity-building through implementation of some of the

recommendations in the African context represent a unique endeavour undertaken to support the aims

of the SAFIPA programme.

3. STORIESFROMTHEFUTURE

Seven stories about the future of mobility in Africa in 2049 were developed in the futures lab. In this

report only five of these stories are reported as two of them were not presented in a format conducive

to capturing of the detail. All seven stories identified the transformational processes required to make

mobility a reality, as well as the obstacles to this. All these themes are reflected in this report.

Story 1: Mandla Mafenya [2049]

Theme: Manpower / metabolic metamorphosis

This is changing our society from:

A high fuel consumption society to a high energy production society.

Hi, my name is Mandla Mafenya (Power Hero)

I live in an eco-friendly sky-rise building in Joburg. I am 28 years old. This morning, I woke up and

checked my metabolic status on my MPD (multi-purpose device). I realized that my energy credits were

low, because I had forgotten to turn off my heater before going to bed last night. To compensate for this

and to regain energy credits (to make my morning toast) I went down to the building gym (these days

we call them energy-generators) and put in 30 minutes on the treadmill. This charged my energy

account on my 'phone enough for me to make my toast, keep my geyser going and save some credits

for later. After breakfast, I put on my NANO-TEXTM Nike-shoes and headed off to work. Instead of taking

the lift to go downstairs, I walked down the 4 flights and accumulated (via the shoes) another 1000

energy points. I stopped at the eco-kiosk on my way to work where my morning load (gym + walking)

was downloaded onto my community grid. At the eco-kiosk I also traded some of my energy credits for

an organic wheat-grass smoothy. I am proud to be responsible for my personal and environmental

health and for striving to create a carbon-neutral footprint. My good habits fuel my life and contribute

to the sustainability of my community. The MAN-POWER-APPTM is using everyday human activity to

save and generate energy.


6/24

4

Story 2: Education's golden ratio 2049

Theme: Crowd-sourced Education

Once upon a time...

Devon woke up. It was a school day. He stayed in bed and his implanted mobile device tingled his

brain into action as the educational content streamed in via the content moderator. He learnt really well

as Mr Pitso, the moderator, ensured that the fantastic content, free and quality-laden, began Devons

typical 2049 learning experience.

The providers of this augmented reality brought learning alive in a cosmic storm of nano explosions by

disseminating knowledge of futuristic competencies. They earned credits on the 'edu exchange' as they

benefited society and ensured their success through the activities of Devon and of many, many others

like him. Credits can be swapped for a virtual space holiday and for an upgraded implanted mobile

device called the skill cap v.1.6.18.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the exchange...

Mr Pitso, the Avatar, did not sleep at all, in fact, he never sleeps as he manages nano crawling robots

clawing their way through new learning content which had been placed on the learning exchange

(inbox) in recent hours. Data from across the universe, including updates from latest space holiday

learning and insights into future competences are aggregated by the Avatar and released onto the

exchange to be translated into credits for providers.

A bidding war ensues between the brokerbots as they begin to define Mr Pitso's teaching day.

The real Mr Pitso wakes up. He turns on Devon's lesson device and is relieved to see Devon beginning to

gain insights, competencies and understanding of an ever-changing world that is now made so much

more tangible.

Story 3:A day in the life of Thabo Nkosi (2049)

Theme: Virtual Economy

Thabo wakes up in the morning to the sound of the number one track of his favourite radio station for

which he pays with his virtual money. While Thabo is dressing he gets an alert on his mobile device of

his sons purchase of chocolates and a Batman comic book at the local department store. He realises

that his son does not have sufficient funds for the goods purchased and tops up his sons account with

virtual money.

Thabo leaves the house to go to the fields where he works as a farmer. When he is half way to the field

he realises that he has left his mobile phone at the house. He stops at the local spaza store to pick up a

new device, which is very cheap. The device scans his facial features which biometrically identify and

authenticate him and automatically links all his applications and accounts to the new device.


7/24

5

He is notified that the water pump has failed because of a broken gear and needs replacement. On his

way to the hardware store he gets the stock inventory on his mobile 'phone to see which store has the

gear in stock. He pays for the gear immediately via his mobile'

phone and an order is sent to the localhardware store. He picks up the gear on his way to the field.

After he has fixed the pump he returns home to do what he loves most. Thabo loves singing and he

uploads the songs that he has written by singing into his mobile phone on the local social network.

Thabo makes a passive income from the tracks which people download and pay for.

Thabo ends the day watching the final of the soccer world cup, South Africa vs. Finland, on his mobile

device.

Story 4: One third of a day in the life of the Tiki family in Uganda

Theme:Automatic Audio/Visual Translations

(Ruwansari main town region)

Ocu wakes up at 04:00 (roused by the alarm on his mobile info. service).

He checks the weather service to see if it will rain today. He sees a note from his cousin that it is raining

in the neighbouring village. He uploads this to the BBC weather service in his own language. He will not

harvest his maize today.

Ocus wife Koti uploads the latest samp harvester manual onto the local info service server. She has

translated it for the community. At 06:00 Koti logs onto the Finnish medical advice service to get adviceon the rash that her son Ocutjie developed during the night. In her own language the medical services

automated voice guidance system tells Koti to take Ocutjie's temperature with her integrated device

thermometer. The system uses visual recognition to make the diagnosis.

At 08:00 the medical system calls Koti to give her the diagnosis. Ocutjie has chickenpox. It gives her a

local home remedy recipe for symptomatic relief and informs her of the visiting hours for the nearest

medical service.

Ocu's daughter Kotojie begins her mathematics class in her home language presented by Dr P Lapen of

Cambridge University in the UK. She will submit her task in her home language at 15:00. The system

translates it into English for review.

Dr Ball of the CDC in Colorado calls Koti at 09:18. He is doing research on chickenpox in Uganda. Koti

hears him in her home language and answers his questions in her own language. Dr Ball hears the

conversation in English.

At 10:00 Ocu's father, Oc, wakes up. His hearing aid gives him an audio-reminder to take his blood

pressure medication and warns him that this heart rate is irregular and that he should go to the nearest

clinic. He consults his service device to look up directions. He receives his directions by means of

normally understood symbols since he cannot read.


8/24

6

At 11:00 Ocu logs onto the financial service to look up the current maize price. He receives an invitation

to a farmers weekly seminar being presented online at 12:00. When he logs onto the service it

translates the presentation for him including various technical jargon.

Story 5: A day in the life of Karabo

Theme: Education Digitally Enhanced

At 6:00 sharp, Karabo's pillow buzzes with a signal from the virtual classroom that it is time to wake up.

This triggers her intelligent home to prepare her morning breakfast, bath water and lays out her clothes.

She proceeds to her virtual classroom environment, initiates connectivity from her private to her public

persona and joins her virtual mathematics class.

Today a mathematics subject matter expert from M.I.T. is delivering an advanced trigonometry course

to 7000 students across Africa.

At the end of the lecture Karabo's regular facilitator takes over the virtual session and stimulates

discussion amongst her class... in readiness for the virtual exam.

She sits her exam and is assessed dynamically as she enters her responses before the exam is sent for

final marking.

4. OBSTACLEANALYSIS

The obstacles identified in the above stories from the futures lab. on Mobile Africa 2049 can be re-

categorised as suggested Table 1 below. The first obstacle, political and corporate interest which

refers to policies, monopolies, financial structures and regulatory environments, was the obstacle most

frequently mentioned.

The obstacles and the frequency with which they occurred are summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Summary of Obstacles


9/24

7

Obstacles Frequency of mention

Political and corporate interest e.g. policy, monopolies, financial structures, regulatory environments 7

Costs/Funding/Finance 5

Food shortage/Poverty/illiteracy/Lower needs like health and hunger 5

Trust in technological issues content quality/infrastructure to facilitate communication/internet connectivity 5Cross border obstacles e.g. lack of communication between governments, currencies, complexities, varying ta 5

Lack of information and service from government to industry, academia and citizens 5

Behavioural change/Paradigms/Current mindsets/Mindsets 4

Privacy/Identity safety 2

Infrastructure e.g. schools 2

Trust/Potential abuse 2Lack of electricity 2

Total 44

These obstacles represent the issues that prevent the futures stories becoming a reality. They identify

the challenges in Africa that need to be addressed in order to benefit from future Mobile devices.

5. TRANSFORMATIVEPROCESSES

The transformation processes that need to take place to enable the future mobility landscape to be

created are represented in Table 2. These have been coded and grouped for each story. The

transformational processes were identified by the participants as the processes that could be embarked

upon in order to facilitate the use - and disseminate the benefits - of mobile devices in Africa.


10/24

8

Table 2: Transformation process categories

Story Transformation process Categorization Summary

Mobile and satellite network coverage IT infrastructure Government services (2)

Intercontinental connectivity IT infrastructure IT infrastructure (2)

Low-cost de vic es for ac cessing in form at ion Resear ch & D evelopm ent Educ at ion (1)Public domain content (education, health,

government) Government services Research and Development (1)

Both free a nd commercial services Government services

Awareness and education process Education

Energy barometer - treadmill - bicycles Advanc ed te chnology Advanced te chn ology (5 )

Kinetic flooring Advanced technology

Ticking Advanced technology

Toll system Advanced technology

Credit system Advanced technology

Access, policy, technology opportunity Strategy Networking and connectivity (5)

Skills development Education Education (1)

Social partic ipat ion in content delivery Networking and connect ivity Government services (1)

Civic engagement Networking and connectivity Strategy (1)

Mi crofi nance - t he new micorf inance Govern ment se rvic es

Personalisation Networking and connectiv ity

Emerging markets Networking and connectiv ity

Social capital/network cloud Networking and connectivity

Brain interface device Advanced technology Advanced technology (3)

Content moderator Advanced technology Networking and connectivity (1)

Content creator Advanced technology

Stock exchange; Edu exchange Networking and connectivity

Mobiles in Africa to be drivers for change with

positive results Education Advanced technology (2)

Intel li ge nt mobi le handse ts ( us er agn ost ic) Ad vanced te chnology Educ at ion ( 1)

Connectivity cloud Networking and connectivity Networking and connectivity (1)

Mobile ID - biometric for everyone Advanced technology Strategy (1)

CAZ system/universal service standards Strategy

Uncensored/free

connectivity as

international

constitutional right

Manpower/metabolic

metamorphosis

Empowerment

Crowd sourced

education

Virtual economy


11/24

9

Handheld, implanted, wearable, integrated with

ex ist ing te chnology (di sp la ys, phone s, et c.) Advanced te chnology Advanced te chnology (4 )

'On the fly' language translation, provision of

health, commerce, education information without

language barriers Advanced technology

Translate information into most

relevant/understandable form (simplify numbers,

mapping, jargon) Advanced technology

Provided everywhere through mobile networks

translation done remotely/over "distributed cloud

intelligence", simplifies device Advanced technology

Distributed open classroom model Strategy Education (2)

Combo: virtual and physical Strategy Networking and connectivity (2)

Ubiquitous high speed connec ti vity Networking and connectiv ity Strategy (2)

Learning through VR-VR technology Education Infrastructure (1)

Experts and highly specialised teachers/facilitators Education

Multimedia interactions (video etc) Infra structure

Assessment - peer computer, educators Networking and connectivity

Education - digitally

enhanced

Automatic audio/Visual

translations

The frequencies of the appearance of the transformation processes recorded and grouped above are

presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Summary of transformation processes

Transformation process

Advanced technology and R&D 15

Networking and connectivity 9

Education 5

Strategy 4

Government services 3

IT infrastructure 2

Infrastructure 1

From the above it can be deduced that technological breakthroughs (Research and Development),

together with networking and connectivity, are viewed as the most important transformational


12/24

10

processes to be addressed and embarked upon if Africa is to benefit from Mobile device use in the

future.

Figure 1: Futures timeline

6. QUICK-WINS

Participants were asked to map the technological breakthroughs and possible interventions required to

realize the scenarios as depicted by the stories for Africa.

The map represented a timescale that started in 2010 and ended in 2049. Groups were formed to focus

on 6 themes that represented pressing issues that could lead to progress or so-called transformations

that could lead to quick wins. The words quick-wins should be understood in the light of a 40 year

period in which a quick win could mean implementation taking anything from 1- 10 years.

The processes that could be translated into quick-wins in the futures context were translated into:

1. Free Universal Internet Access for Africa: ICT mobility will grow much faster in Africa if access andconnectivity could be free for the masses. ICT connectivity should be treated as a basic human right.

This view provides a platform from which many traditional approaches could be challenged and

from which new and novel markets that drive profitability could be discovered. Business models

could be derived from tax, advertising, donations, social returns, investment, international

agreements, standardisation of services and the removal of roaming charges.

2. Move from Handouts to Empowerments in the roll out of IT/ Mobile Applications in Africa: Thisquick win could be realized if African communities became involved in the building, roll-out and

implementation of Mobile infrastructure. In the process they would develop skills and would donate

their time to uplift their communities. A huge platform of collaborators would have to be mobilised

and sustained.


13/24

11

3. 2nd Generation ID: Actions needed to develop a second generation ID included the development ofa biometric security protocol, biometric device integration, ID authentication cloud, an independent

governance body, third party integrations and an Open Innovation platform.

4. Wireless Charging of Devices: Issues to consider for this quick win for Africa are: Usability,scalability, safety and standardisation.

5. Carbon Credits on Consumer: This quick win might not be such a quick win as it entails a hugehuman transformational process that could be driven globally. As carbon credits are placed on

organisations, the transformation to consumers might not be as arduous as it seems.

6. Virtual classrooms: This quick win needs political will, infrastructure, know-how andimplementation. As all the technology is in place, it is now simply a matter of commitment,

collaboration, time and effort.

The possible role-players who could assist in realizing possible quick wins were identified by the

participants. It is recommended that the role-players, as identified by this exercise, be called together to

participate in a futures exercise on the themes identified and that work committees be formed to lobby

government and for an improvement in cross-border co-operation. This exercise should take place at

the highest level.

7. CONCLUSION

The Futures lab. in Mobility in Africa was a pioneering event that added awareness and knowledge in a

loosely defined ecosystem that we can start to call An ecosystem for ICT mobility in Africa. A large

number of people were reached by means of invitations, participation, blogs, a survey and events that

delivered qualitative data that could be used as a basis to inform actions, discussions and themes for

taking the mobile device sector forward in Africa, as an innovation system in its own right.

If this work is to be taken forward the following recommendations should be considered.

8. RECOMMENDATIONS

The recommendations are presented in order of priority as agreed with SAFIPA:

Recommendation 1:

A capacity-building programme for role players in ICT Mobility should be developed. In this programme

the future scenarios should be used to promote innovation within the sector. The programme should


14/24

12

contain elements of business management, co-operation with larger organisations, pitching and

technology transfer. The programme should be modular and cohesive so that participants who would

like to participate in all the modules complete a cohesive programme while candidates that only want to

participate in specific modules can do so as the modules are stand alone in enough. The programme

should be designed that it provides good content, is interactive and has enough time between modules

for assignments and integration of the content. The programme should also provide a certificate for

candidates that finish the entire programme. The impact of the programme should be measured.

The following themes are the top recommended themes based on the Mobile capacity survey that was

done in the sector and based on expert analysis. The most important modules for the SMMEs in the

mobile sector are:

Technical Business skills:

Business Entrepreneurship Skills (1 day) Funding Mechanisms and Pitching (1-2 days) Business Financial Skills(1 day) Technology Road Maps(1 day) Market Research (1 day) Open Innovation(1 day)

Technological skills

Cell Phone and Mobile Device Operating Systems (1 Day) Mobile Learning(1 day) Payment/ Revenue Operator Billing (1 day) Future Opportunities Location Based Services (1 day) Cloud Computing (1 day)

It is recommended that the programme starts in November (or earlier if possible) and ends in April

2011 and cover as many as possible of the recommended themes.


15/24

13

Recommendation 2:

An Open Innovation ecosystem (consisting of solution providers and solution seekers in mobile

applications) should be built and sustained in Southern Africa. The creation of a community that is kept

alive with real business challenges and solution providers is also proposed. This will include:

Building a local network of solution seekers and solution providers in various technology relatedareas;

Establishing contacts between solution seekers with solution providers globally; Enabling crowd sourcing; Creating a platform for technology transfer where SA companies can respond to global Fortune

1000 company needs;

Profiling innovation players; and

Promoting and enabling open innovation within South Africa.

What is Open Innovation ?

Open Innovation, in short, refers to a set of defined processes and engagements with virtual and

physical networks to discover, isolate and implement innovative ideas, technologies, products and

capabilities from outside organisations to address identified problems / challenges. More

comprehensive descriptions show that Open Innovation is a paradigm that assumes that an organisation

can and should use both external and internal ideas, as well as internal and external paths to market and

promote their technologies.

Open Innovation enables organisations to encourage the global innovation community to help solve

organisations biggest challenges by significantly expanding its innovation network to solve these

challenges.

Advantages of Open Innovation

It accelerates the innovation cycle; It provides access to new ideas and knowledge; It creates an R & D platform; It facilitates the finding of new suppliers and supplier networks; and It provides technology intelligence to organisations.

Recommendation 3

The following themes were identified as the early issues that could make some of the scenarios

possible:

Free universal internet access for Africa; Wireless charging of devices; and Virtual classrooms.


16/24

14

Possible role players were also identified by the participants. It is recommended that these role players

be involved in a futures exercise on the identified themes and that work committees be formed to lobby

government and cross border co-operation. This exercise should take place on the highest level.

Recommendation 4:

Virtual provocation: it is recommended that a video be produced by IDEAN about the scenarios created

for Africa. This video should be widely disseminated on the Internet. Further recommendations in this

regard are attached as Annexure A.


17/24

15

9. ANNEXURE A: REPORT ON THE CAPACITY BUILDING NEEDS FOR SMMES AND OTHER ROLE

PLAYERSINTHEMOBILESECTOR

Report on the Capacity building needs for SMMEs and other

role players in the Mobile Sector

Table of contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 17

2. Methodology and demographic data ........................................................................................... 17

3. Results ......................................................................................................................................... 18

4. Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 22

Annexure A: Questionnaire ............................................................................................................. 23


18/24

16

List of figures

Figure 1: Employment of respondents ............................................................................................. 17

Figure 2: Business skills requirements of all respondents .......................... ........................ ............... 18

Figure 3: Technology skills requirements of all respondents ............................................................ 19

Figure 4: Technology skills: Mobile sector employees ...................................................................... 20

List of tables

Table 1: Business skills comparison: Top 5 ....................................................................................... 19

Table 2: Technology skills comparison: Top 5 ......................... ........................... ...................... ......... 21

Table 3: Open question ................................................................................................................... 21


19/24

17

1. Introduction

This survey was conducted as part of the South Africa - Finland knowledge partnership on ICT (SAFIPA)

Futures Lab project in the Mobile Industry. The purpose of this survey is to determine the capacity

building needs of SMMEs and other role players in the Mobile Industry. The results of the survey will be

used to develop training modules for role players in the Mobile Industry to improve their technology

and business skills. The study was based on information gathered from the Mobile Monday Networking

event which was held on 31 May and the Mobility Foresight Workshop on Mobility in Africa which took

place on 1 and 2 June 2010.

2. Methodology and demographic data

The original questionnaire was compiled by the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability

(RIIS). This questionnaire was distributed to several people employed in the mobile sector for

consultation and feedback before it was send to the wider mobile community. Feedback was received

from Mobile Tools, Nokia and the CSIR and the suggested changes integrated by RIIS. The final

questionnaire is attached as Annexure A.

The final questionnaire was designed electronically by RIIS and the link to the survey was send via e-mail

to the Mobile Monday Network, the RIIS mobile industry database (including employees in the mobile

sector who was invited and/or attended the Mobile Monday Networking event and the Mobility

Foresight Workshop). The link was also e-mailed to the South African Innovation Network (SAINe)

members and the IZAZI community. The survey further featured on the SAINe website during the

running period which commenced on 14 July and closed on 30 July. Figure 1 below clearly shows that

the survey was mostly completed by role players in the business sector.

FIGURE1:EMPLOYMENT OF RESPONDENTS


20/24

18

3. Results

The questionnaire probed two distinct capacity building fields. The first section of the questionnaire

probed business needs and the second part focused on technology capacity building needs. The results

of the two fields are discussed separately.

Business Skills:

Respondents were asked to mark a maximum of five business skills they would find most valuable for

additional training. Figure 2 shows that the majority of respondents (60.6%) indicated that they require

Business entrepreneurship skills (including planning, marketing branding and business skills). Almost

half (45.5%) of the respondents marked Technology roadmaps and trends as a requirement followed

by Future thinking (39.4%), Funding mechanisms and pitching (36.4%) and Market research (36.4%).

When analyzing the respondents employed directly in the Mobile Industry Business entrepreneurship

skills, Technology roadmaps and trends, Funding mechanisms and pitching and Market research and

Business Financial Skills were the five most popular required skills. The latter five business skills are

displayed by a brown colour in Figure 2 below. The 6th to 9th most marked skills according to

respondents from the Mobile Industry are Futures thinking, Business strategy, Managing innovation

and Requirements for entering the African market. These skills are depicted by an orange colour in

Figure 2 below.

FIGURE2:BUSINESS SKILLS REQUIREMENTS OF ALL RESPONDENTS


21/24

19

Table 1: Business skills comparison: Top 5

Table 1 above can be used to compare the skill requirements of people directly employed in the Mobile

Industry to those not directly employed in this industry. Market research and Business Financial skills

are more popular with employees in the Mobile Industry than for people not employed directly in this

industry. On the other hand training concepts focused on Futures thinking and Open innovation

principles were more popular with people not directly employed in the Mobile Industry.

The following additional business skill was mentioned as a training requirement:

Relationship management with Aggregators, Celcos and Application vendors

Technology Skills:

FIGURE3:TECHNOLOGY SKILLS REQUIREMENTS OF ALL RESPONDENTS


22/24

20

Respondents were asked to mark a maximum of five technology skills they would find most valuable for

additional training. In the Figure 3 above one can see that 48.5% of respondents require Future

opportunities - Location based services. This is followed by Technologies Cell phone and mobile

device operating systems skills with 45.5% and Mobile learning which 39.4% of respondents marked as

a requirement. These latter three skill requirements are also amongst the top five required skills for

Mobile Industry respondents. Payment/Revenue in application billing was ranked fourth by the total

group followed by Mobile internet bandwidth & speed, Payment/Revenue operator billing and

Technologies Web runtime / Web applications.

Payment/Revenue operator billing and Technologies cloud computing also classified amongst the

top five themes for Mobile Industry respondents. The top five skills pertaining to the Mobile Industry

respondents are coloured dark blue in the graph above, whereas the 6th to 9th most popular required

skill for this group are displayed in a lighter shade of blue.

FIGURE4:TECHNOLOGY SKILLS:MOBILE SECTOR EMPLOYEES

In Figure 4 above respondents from the Mobile Industry are indicted separately to demonstrate the

most important technology skill for this group.


23/24

21

Table 2: Technology skills comparison: Top 5

When considering Table 2 above it becomes clear that Mobile internet bandwidth and speed,

Payment/Revenue operator billing and Technology Web runtime / Web applications are equally

important skills (fifth most popular, all marked by 30.3% of respondents) for the total group. However,

Payment/Revenue in application billing are not classified amongst the top five popular required skills

for direct mobile industry respondents but is indicated among the top five for the total group.

Additionally Payment/Revenue operator billing are rated as the second most important skill by

Mobile Industry respondents, but the same is not true for non-direct mobility participants. However, for

this group Security and privacy is indicated as important.

Additional technology skills mentioned once only by the group were:

1 ) Future opportunity - business/trading2) Mobile application development

3 ) Mobile Web Advertising - Banner Display and Search

Table 3 below represents further suggestions from respondents regarding training modules to be

developed in the Mobile Industry.

Table 3: Open question


24/24

22

4. Recommendations

N/A for public report

Documents

Mobility Futures Workshop Report With Mobility Capacity Building Needs Report as Attachment Public