SAP opened one of its Co-Innovation Labs (COILs) in Johannesburg this morning. The lab is the first of its kind in Africa and one of several in the world.
The labs aim to foster innovation through collaboration between software solution partners, system integrators and technology partners on current and future technologies that will help SAP customers with their digital transformation.
Dr Tanja Rueckert, executive VP of business digital assets and Internet of things (IOT) at SAP SE, says the lab in Johannesburg will focus on IOT, as the company sees this technology having the greatest potential to help Africa on the way to digitisation.
The company plans to open a dedicated IOT Lab in Johannesburg at some point.
Dr Hans J"org Stotz, SAP senior VP, head of IOT strategy and innovation, says IOT is transforming the whole business process at every point. "Now everything from the truck delivering products, to the point-of-sale device is a connected device."
Therefore, innovation in this space is imperative.
"Not only is innovation key to survival in today's economy," says Brett Parker, MD of SAP Africa. "But the speed at which you are able to transform is becoming increasingly critical. Far too often, great ideas are lost. Consequently, businesses are looking for smarter, quicker and more efficient ways to innovate."
The key objective of SAP COILs is to transform good ideas into business-ready solutions, at a much quicker pace.
Since the inception of the first lab in Palo Alto in 2007, SAP COILs have been established in the US, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, India, Singapore, China, South Korea and Japan. The company says expansion of the lab network around the globe broadens the pool of talent and expertise working on solutions.
At the launch event this morning, an agreement between SAP and the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA) was signed. The IDIA was formed to enable South African universities to jointly advance within the global Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project and lead in data science.
The new partnership will allow IDIA members to make use of SAP's large data lakes and provide university access to the data that is being generated by the SKA. SAP is the first private sector company to partner with IDIA.
Imraan Patel, deputy director-general of the Department of Science and Technology, said at the event there have been a number of innovation and skills initiatives like the SAP labs happening in the country lately.
However, he noted, one of the challenges is that the initiatives do not seem to be adding up in terms of impact. Collaboration is key to helping these initiatives generate usable outcomes, Patel added.
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