28 June 2023
Gallagher Convention Centre
Johannesburg, South Africa
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Be inspired to create change in your city
The African Smart Cities Summit is Africa’s only dedicated conference that explores how smart cities can deliver a quality life and enable economic growth through IoT, technology and creative thinking. Providing African solutions for Africa’s cities, this high-profile conference will tackle Africa’s readiness to fully adopt smart methodologies for implementation to current infrastructure.
Taking place at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg from 28 June 2023, this exclusive gathering of key smart cities private and public stakeholders co-locates with The Big 5 Construct Southern Africa (previously African Construction Expo) and Totally Concrete Expo and is one of the must attend events in the calendar.
Who should attend the African Smart Cities Summit?
African Smart Cities Summit programme
Wednesday, 28 June 2023
DESIGNING RESILIENT SMART CITIES THAT ALLOW URBAN POPULATIONS TO THRIVE
At the 6th African Smart Cities Summit, attendees will witness how Africa can create cities that are far more efficient, resilient, and environmentally friendly, considering local needs, through the use of smarter and interoperable techniques, technologies, and ideas.
08:30
Registration, Networking and Early morning refreshments
09:00
Chairman Opening Remarks & Introduction of the first session
Chairperson:
Victor Radebe, Co-Founder, Mobility Centre for Africa (NPC), South Africa
09:05
Keynote opening address: Africa – a capable PEOPLE
09:30
Building Smart Cities for All: A Collaborative and Inclusive Approach
Smart Cities have become a buzzword in recent times, with many people associating them solely with high-tech innovations. However, a true Smart City is one that utilizes technology in a smart way to enhance the delivery of services to citizens and address local challenges. This session will showcase the benefits of this approach and provide insights into how rural and urban municipalities can start thinking beyond technology to become smarter in their use of technology.
Speaker:
Khathu Mashau, Executive Chairperson, Nunnovation Africa Foundation, South Africa
Session 1.1: Smart Mobility: Achieving resilience through Intelligent Transport Systems
The growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) affects all areas of society. This digital transformation, which has a disruptive nature in mobility and transport, is a new industrial revolution and brings a change in basic assumptions. This transformation should address prominent issues such as environmental, social, and economic sustainability, the introduction of low emission zones, urban tolls, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), e-commerce and the problem with last mile’s merchandise distribution (logistic micro platforms), the future of connected and autonomous vehicles, electromobility or the irruption of personal mobility vehicles (PMVs).
10:00
1.1.1 Planning and Managing Mobility and Transport Systems
Discover how transport and mobility are intertwined with wider social systems and structures. Given the fundamental impact of transport on liveability in urban as well as rural settings, transport planning from a wider social approach is far from sufficiently acknowledged, even in transport research literature. This session aims to investigate how transport and mobility planning can be developed to support societal goals related to sustainable development.
- Understand the role of technology in people centric smart buildings
- Investigate the practicality of digital twin implementation
- Discover key technologies used for digital twinning
Speakers:
Reginald Lavhelesani Demana, Chief Executive Officer, SANRAL, South Africa*
10:30
1.1.2 Technologies Applied to Smart Mobility and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)
Cities thrive and daily life improves when traffic moves smoothly and safely, vehicles and pedestrians exist harmoniously, public transit is reliable and accessible, and logistics are efficient and timely. For transportation leaders, the ability to achieve such a vision is now within reach by leveraging technological advancements, including AI (Artificial Intelligence), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and 5G edge networking.
Speaker:
Dingaan Masango, Senior Researcher, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa
11:00
Networking and Refreshment Break
Session 1.2: Leading Cities – The successful management of a smart city
Advances in information and communication technology (ICT) are central for the transformation of cities into smart cities. Yet, it is the ability to apply ICT efficiently that defines whether a smart city will be resilient and sustainable. The art of management stands at the heart of the process. This session will look at the leadership and decision-making for urban design and the built environment development, the relationship between the smart city services and business growth dynamics, and new forms of asset acquisition.
11:30
1.2.1 Thought Leadership: How Africa can transform to innovation through smart leadership
Increasing attention has been given to the role of leadership as an important determinant of growth at a regional or local scale. Willie Vos has shown exceptional leadership abilities by leading the Waterfall Management Company to great success. How has he steered the team and achieved exceptional results?
Speakers:
Willie Vos, Chief Executive Officer, Waterfall Management Company, South Africa
12:00
1.2.2 Panel Discussion: eThekwini Municipality: Examining the role of resilience in building smart cities and how to maintain infrastructure in the face of disasters
In September 2022 eThekwini Municipality launched the eThekwini Strat Hub, which is also known as the city’s ‘Single Source of Truth’. The Strat Hub is a digital platform whose aim is to cultivate an insight-driven decision-making culture; by using data and digital tools to promote operational efficiency, innovation and inclusiveness. The primary objective of the Strat Hub is to transform the City’s strategic outlook by setting a foundation which ensures that eThekwini has access to real-time, integrated, and accurate data, for strategic planning, service delivery optimization, resource mobilization and engagement with citizens.
Speakers:
- Xola Debe, Chief Policy Analyst, eThekwini Municipality, South Africa
- Sandile Mahlaba, Provincial PS Executive, Microsoft, South Africa
- Dr Sandile Mbatha, Senior Manager: City Research and Policy Advocacy (RAPA), eThekwini Municipality, South Africa
13:00
Lunch & Networking
Session 1.3: Smart City Financing & Investment
With the proportion of people set to be city dwellers set to rise to 66% by 2050, cities across the globe are looking to proactively invest in and modernise their infrastructure. Public–private partnerships (PPPs), revenue sharing agreements, and pay-for-performance arrangements are examples of resourceful innovative approaches to funding and financing smart cities; is that really the case though?
14:00
1.3.1 Investing in Innovation: The Rise of The Smart City
As with any civil upgrades, the rise of new smart technologies and infrastructure requires adequate financing and investment. The market size of the global smart city industry is set to double, from $410.8 billion (about $1,300 per person in the US) in 2020 to $820.7 billion (about $2,500 per person in the US) by 2025. This exponential growth is guided by global developments in IoT technologies, extended 5G access and eased government regulations on a global level.
Speaker:
Patrick Ntsime, Principal Deal Originator, Development Bank of Southern Africa
14:30
1.3.3 Panel Discussion: Climate and COP27: Political Pressures & Investment Implications
With a goal of achieving net-zero emissions by developing Smart Cities, the recent UN Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt was a phenomenal success, with negotiators from 200 countries in discussions to reach a climate-action milestone. Three critical themes to investigate:
- What is the real investment risk related to direct impacts of climate change?
- Will there be any transition costs and considerations as carbon markets rebalance the economics of fossil fuel investment and renewables?
- What are the long-term investment opportunities in the physical assets needed to achieve global net zero goals?
Speakers:
- Joanne Bate, Chief Operations Officer, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited*
- Ibrahima Cheikh DIONG, Assistant Secretary General, United Nations*
- Andrew Robinson, Chief Executive Officer, Norton Rose Fulbright SA Inc., South Africa*
- Mike Salawou, Ag. Director of the Infrastructure and Urban Development Department, African Development Bank, Côte D’Ivoire
15:15
Networking and Refreshment Break
Session 1.4: Powering Smart Cities
If the ultimate goals of smart cities are power management, reducing pollution footprints, increasing public safety, and offering improved services to residents, how do you achieve these goals without the sufficient power needed to keep the lights on? City planners and utility managers are seeking new ways to change consumption patterns and behaviours of the companies and people occupying the city to make the city more sustainable and more socially equitable. This session will evaluate the available solutions for African Municipalities and power utilities.
Chairperson: Hasnayn Ebrahim, Managing Director, Africa International Advisors
15:30
1.4.1 Power Management in the Smart City infrastructure
A smart city is a sustainable and efficient urban centre that provides a high quality of life to its inhabitants through optimal management of its resources. Energy management is one of the most demanding issues within such urban centres owing to the complexity of the energy systems and their vital role. Therefore, significant attention and effort need to be dedicated to this problem. This session will investigate methodologies for developing an improved energy model in the smart city.
Speaker:
Nosipho Bodlingwe, Smart Grid Expert, ESKOM: Centre of Excellence, South Africa
16:00
1.4.2 Panel Discussion: Investigating renewable energy sources and sustainable energy solutions for powering smart cities in Africa
The shortage of reliable and affordable energy is one of the biggest constraints on economic growth and prosperity in Africa. Only 20 per cent of the African population is connected to power distribution grids. The continent lags far behind all other regions of the world in electricity generating capacity. How can smart cities create cornerstones for energy efficiency and management?
Moderator:
Hasnayn Ebrahim, Managing Director, Africa International Advisors
Panellists:
- Prof. Daramy Vandi Von Kallon, Associate Professor and Head of Quality Assurance, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Technology, University of Johannesburg
- Des Muller, Director, NuEnergy Developments, Pty Ltd, South Africa
- Yaa Agyare-Dwomoh, Consultant, Frost & Sullivan Africa, South Africa
16:45
Closing remarks and end of conference
Packages to suit your business needs
DELEGATE PASS
Exhibition access
Architecture Talks
Concrete Talks
Green Construction Talks
Smart Talks
Smart Cities product demo’s
African Smart Cities Summit
Lunch (28 June 2023)
Refreshments (28 June 2023)
Delegate rate
R4,850 excl. VAT / US $415 excl. VAT
