A consortium of Garden Route-based companies are gearing up to form an IT technology hub in George.
"The idea behind pooling resources and skills is to keep all our software and hardware developmental work in the Garden Route. We already have around 30 businesses on our data base that have all the necessary skills and technology to form the nucleus,” says local IT company owner, Imel Rautenbach.
The consortium aims to use the Western Cape province's business arm to market and develop, in order to expand nationally and internationally. “This initiative fits perfectly with our own plans for the growing of the technology industry within the province,” says Jo-Anne Johnston, Western Cape's chief director of trade and industry development. She says the department fully supports the initiative and is exploring ways of bringing other government departments onboard.
As part of the venture, a wireless network is being rolled out in the George area and will eventually cover the entire Garden Route. “The potential of the new network is limitless. With remote monitors farmers can even check-up on where their cattle is grazing, or see what vehicles are accessing their farms," explains Rautenbach. The network will not supply Internet access, but rather act as a backbone for R&D projects and educational programmes.
A major focus of the consortium is to boost education in the Southern Cape. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US has made available to the consortium around 2 000 online programmes focusing on science and technology. These programmes will be made available to local schools completely free of charge, once they have connected to the new network.
"By creating a virtual hub, we want to create a momentum which will bring about enough technology-based work here in George which will mean that those people who are currently commuting to bigger centres, and living in George, can in future work here as well,” concludes Rautenbach.
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