The summer school is taking place from the 24h Nov. to the 4th Dec. 2019 and is part of the HEDIS (HUB for Education on ICT for Sustainability) project. The project is funded by the German funding organisation, the German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD, which is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation.
The participants in the summer school are students and researchers from three universities: the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany, the University of Cape Town and the Nelson Mandela University and are in the fields of Business, Computer Science, Engineering, IT or Information Systems.
The school is tackling the challenges faced by the 4IR, global warming and the information explosion. Digital transformation provides many opportunities for tackling these challenges and is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business in order to solve traditional problems by changing the way the business operates and delivers value to customers.
New technologies forming part of the 4IR such as Machine Learning and Data Science have been implemented in the smart city space to help create positive economic, social, and environmental impact while addressing global sustainability trends. According to the HOD of Computing Sciences at Nelson Mandela University, Prof Scholtz, the summer school provides an excellent opportunity for the participants to:
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Create an awareness of how 4IR technologies, (particularly AI, machine learning and data science) have been applied to tackle issues of sustainability in organisations and cities.
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Perform outreach training, coding workshops and awareness activities to school learners in disadvantaged areas that do not have access to technologies and to address potential misperceptions of these technologies.
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Educate participants on innovative digital transformations and the potential they have to offer.
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Provide participants with the necessary skills to appropriately analyse sustainability issues and to design innovative solutions.
The summer school will provide applicants with the unique opportunity of interacting directly with providers of smart city initiatives in the Eastern and Western Cape and of evaluating the impact or potential impact of these initiatives on the local economy, environment and social lives of the citizens. They will also be required to provide a critical analysis of these initiatives and propose possible alternative innovative solutions.
