Technology Freedom

Earlier this week I delivered talk at the IEEE UCT Student Chapter  with the theme: 'Young Engineer in the field'. The audience comprised of a Multidisciplinary Engineering, multi-year (Undergrad, Masters, PhD) group.

The talk concluded into a  vibrant  interactive discussion during the Q&A part. Some of the many questions raised, covered amongst others, are:

• 'What is your take on Elon Musk's Hyperloop for South Africa?'
• 'Why do most of our engineers land up in Maintenance and Operations? Why so little/& fragmented R&D clusters?'
• 'Why must we continuously 'import' technologies outside of South Africa?'

Upon reflecting upon on some of the key questions, my mind subsequently raced to a concept I came across during my post graduate studies called : 'Technology Colony'.

The 1999 article: 'Emerging from the Technology Colony: A View from the South'' (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/39b7/9b1411104f674a8c22e0afdc55514494ecc2.pdf) by de Wet refers.

The Conclusion of the article reads: 'Being a technology colony is neither something to be ashamed of, nor necessarily a disaster.  Remaining one, should not be a fate to be suffered, but an opportunity to be managed.  Non-technical managers are poorly qualified to understand the strategic alternatives that need to be considered when either national or corporate management has to decide on the way forward. Therefore those skilled in the management of technology should play their part in creating the best possible growth trajectories for their economies. That this is not a simple task, should no longer be a matter of dispute.  What may be open for alternate views, are the ways and means by which the colonial mindset in so many role players in the technology colony, could be shifted towards an understanding of the extent to which they have been conditioned to see the world in a certain way, and a confidence that they may become much more of masters of their own destiny.'

Some 2 decades have passed since this 'Technology Colony' article has been penned. Based on my recent engagement with some our future engineers, I  can not help to say that it seems that we are still one the 'Technology Colony' page. Needless to say, there is a need for us, as a collective nation, to move to the 'Technology Freedom' page.

In contributing to commemorating our Freedom Day in South Africa (27 April), I would like to conclude with 2 quotations from one of my heroes, Tata Madiba, our late President Nelson Mandela, who said:

'A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special'

'It seem impossible until it is done'

['Side' Comment: This particular post, 'Technology Freedom', were edited a few times.

When I ran the display outcomes and / previews, I noticed that on some platforms, some of the edits were not successful.

For clarity, in one version of the post two pictures might be included. In another version only one pic may be included.

One of the pics (if they are included in the post you reading now) is a  Grade 9 Technology Project (a Civil Structure Model) build by my son and 3 of his class mates. Through their creativity, concerted effort and team work, they scored 100% for the project. If you don't have this pic, please ignore  this paragraph.

The other picture is a photo a I took in Chris Barnard Hospital in Cape Town CBD (near the entrance to the Waterfront). It reads : 'It seem impossible until it is done' ]