The City of Johannesburg, in partnership with the University of Witwatersrand, officially opened the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) yesterday.
Partners say the aim of this initiative is to develop local software and the growth of the ICT sector, and improve the local sector`s international competitiveness.
"The JCSE initiative aims to get the local IT industry to compete against international competitors as well as secure major software development contracts from SA`s government and industrial sectors," says centre director Prof Barry Dwolatzky.
Several international and local IT companies, including Microsoft, Unisys, Tata Consulting Services, IBM, Accenture, arivia.kom, Entelect and BMI-TechKnowledge, have joined the JCSE initiative.
"Together with the City of Johannesburg, the ICT industry, local and national government, IT users and academia, the JCSE will promote best practices in software development by blending international best practice, tools and methodologies," Dwolatzky says.
"Through research and training initiatives to strengthen the local software development industry, real professionals will be brought in to bring real-world professional experience."
Dwolatzky says the JCSE at Wits will also draw on established academic and research programmes with a focal point on a software development cluster.
Flagship project
"The JCSE will offer consulting and software certification and accreditation services and will carry out applied research in collaboration with companies and organisations, aimed at finding solutions to software-related business problems," says Dwolatzky.
"Specific programmes will include education programmes, public lectures, master classes, continuing professional development courses, technology incubation and an outreach programme."
"The City of Johannesburg has selected this initiative as one of its flagship projects, as it sees the city as a hub for Africa`s ICT sector in its 2030 vision," says David van Niekerk, Johannesburg`s 2030 Economic Sector Support Programme manager.
"Through the JCSE, the city is looking forward to developing and promoting the use of international best practice in software engineering, to create greater opportunities for all, but specifically black economic empowerment and small and medium enterprises, to increase international competitiveness."
"Realising that a lot of international companies tap into local skills, the JCSE initiative also aims to leverage on local skills for the benefit of our economy," says Dave Methen, Unisys global infrastructure services director.
"From Microsoft`s point of view, the core of the JCSE is to strengthen and address skills development and capacity building in software engineering," says Danny Naidoo, Microsoft SA developer platforms group director.
"There`s still a wide technology gap in SA, therefore software development systems and collaboration is a necessity to make available resources, ensuring all people are trained," says Sunder Singh, Tata Consultancy Services resident manager.
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