With the world rapidly changing and the Fourth Industrial Revolution being a hot topic, ideas are needed to keep the world turning. Universities from across the country gathered at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) on 27 November 2020, for the Fifth Research Collaboration Symposium.

While delivering the keynote address, University of Zululand’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Institutional Support, Professor Sipho Seepe said that those who control ideas control the future. “This is why the struggle for control of ideas is going to be more brutal than any political battle. Until we start addressing the real issues that affect our people, we will not start moving towards the dominance of ideas, and when I say the dominance of ideas, I’m also talking about the dominance of our future. Our future is something that we cannot outsource to other people and therefore it means that when we talk about the future we need to pay attention to the space of idea formation,” said Prof. Seepe.

A full Professor of Mathematics and Science Education, Prof. Seepe holds a Masters in Solid State Physics from Wits University and a PhD from the University of North West. He is also a popular political analyst, who added that it takes somebody who is not hungry to begin grappling with ideas.

“We need to address Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs before we go anywhere, for example, take Isaac Newton, one of the stories that gets told about him is that he was sitting under a tree, probably sleeping when an apple fell. The important thing about that story is that Sir Isaac Newton did not choose to eat that apple. People zero in on how he discovered the force of gravity. I can imagine a very hungry African, under a tree, if an apple fell you know what would happen to that apple, it would be eaten,” said Prof. Seepe.

CUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement, Prof. Alfred Ngowi add that gathering like-minded people to collaborate and turn innovations into businesses is an important role academics play in society. “There are several skills which will not be taken away by 4IR technologies. One is innovation, up to now, computers are not able to innovate, so, innovation remains a skill for people, it is not going to change so the more you innovate the better. The other skill is entrepreneurship. The computer is not going to be able to choose your business partner, or choose which business you should get into, thus entrepreneurship is going to remain a skill for humans,” said Prof. Ngowi.

The symposium was attended by Universities and Universities of Technology from across the country, as well as the Council of Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) to discuss collaborations in research amongst the country’s top academic minds.

Caption

1: University of Zululand’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Institutional Support, Professor Sipho Seepe delivered the keynote address virtually.

2. Academics gathered in the Japie van Lill Auditorium to discuss innovations and collaborations.