http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/heatherford/2007/09/04/engineering-innovation/ Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:41:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/heatherford/2007/09/04/engineering-innovation/comment-page-1/#comment-1690 Heather Ford Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:36:53 +0000 http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/heatherford/2007/09/04/engineering-innovation/#comment-1690 Thanks, Rhulani! This is too true. If we got the infrastructure part right then a lot of great innovation would follow. But there is still a lot we could do given the challenges and limitations. True innovation is in working out how to turn those limitations into opportunities. We just have to experiment more with solutions that fit our own challenges well. Thanks, Rhulani! This is too true. If we got the infrastructure part right then a lot of great innovation would follow. But there is still a lot we could do given the challenges and limitations. True innovation is in working out how to turn those limitations into opportunities. We just have to experiment more with solutions that fit our own challenges well.

]]> http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/heatherford/2007/09/04/engineering-innovation/comment-page-1/#comment-1268 rhulani kubayi Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:49:52 +0000 http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/heatherford/2007/09/04/engineering-innovation/#comment-1268 Beautiful article! I was thinking about the ICT sector in SA and wondering if companies like Vodacom and MTN are doing their part in promoting the development and spread of ICT technology. We hear everyday that the telecommunication costs in SA are among the highest in the world, and that we are a third world country! Yet none of these greedy monsters seem at all prepared to bring down the hefty prices of their services! Surely in a world such as ours where companies like Google are taking the lead in offering the common fellow free access and use of their services, you'd expect our companies to learn a thing or two as well? Quite sad in the SA context where you hear about the pervasive challenges of skills shortages and illiteracy. If our greedy companies are hell-bent on making sucking the poor consumer of a little money they have, that will only stall the development of technologies and adoption of useful services by poor South Africans. I am sick and tired of reading about record profits and revenue reported by companies like Vodacom or MTN every year, or of all the exorbitant sums they plow into sponsorship of sporting codes. Who exactly benefits from that? Is there a way we can make some noise and get these chaps to wake up from their long slumber? Beautiful article! I was thinking about the ICT sector in SA and wondering if companies like Vodacom and MTN are doing their part in promoting the development and spread of ICT technology. We hear everyday that the telecommunication costs in SA are among the highest in the world, and that we are a third world country! Yet none of these greedy monsters seem at all prepared to bring down the hefty prices of their services! Surely in a world such as ours where companies like Google are taking the lead in offering the common fellow free access and use of their services, you’d expect our companies to learn a thing or two as well? Quite sad in the SA context where you hear about the pervasive challenges of skills shortages and illiteracy. If our greedy companies are hell-bent on making sucking the poor consumer of a little money they have, that will only stall the development of technologies and adoption of useful services by poor South Africans. I am sick and tired of reading about record profits and revenue reported by companies like Vodacom or MTN every year, or of all the exorbitant sums they plow into sponsorship of sporting codes. Who exactly benefits from that? Is there a way we can make some noise and get these chaps to wake up from their long slumber?

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