Join us for the Leap 4.0 Convention:

LEAP 4.0 will bring together sharp minds to discuss strategies for Africa to proactively take advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The objective is to help our country and the continent to ‘leapfrog’ towards a digital future.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Rapelang Rabana

Topic: Utopia or dystopia: robots, wizards, unicorns and other heroes or villains of the 4IR

Rapelang Rabana is an internationally lauded technology entrepreneur. From her first start-up straight out of university, to Chief Digital Officer at South Africa’s largest IT company, she has amassed more than 15 years’ experience building tech. She serves as a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Entrepreneurship, has appeared on the cover of Forbes Africa magazine, has been identified by Choiseul 100 Africa as an African leader who will play a major role in the continent’s economic development in the near future, and regularly speaks on local and international platforms sharing a stage with the likes of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda as well as New York Times best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell.

Rapelang’s tech venture, Rekindle Learning, was profiled in the McKinsey Lions go Digital report as a ‘striking innovation’ in mobile learning. She is also a Partner at a private equity firm, Nisela Capital. Having attained a Business Science degree as well an M.Sc she is a firm believer that there is a better, simpler more effective way to do things – technology.

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TECHNO SHOPS

Breakaway Rooms
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Arts & Humanity

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can compose music, paint, choreograph and write novels. Yet can it ever replace what is thought of as one of the noble hallmarks of humanity – the ability to produce art? This session considers that instead of thinking about AI as replacing human creativity, it is beneficial to examine ways in which AI can be used as a tool to augment this creativity. Collaboration between the machine and humanity produces exciting results—novel approaches and combinations that would probably not develop if either were working alone.
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Bio & Nanotechnology

Over the next decade, bio- and nanotechnology will contribute to widespread technological transformation, affecting the productivity and development of myriad sectors, from disease diagnostics, water purification and energy efficiency to the fabrication of new materials. As it does, there are concerns that it could become a technology of the rich and help widen social and economic disparities.  Technology and equality can and should go hand–in–hand. Yet to achieve this, we need creative policies and anticipatory governance mechanisms so that nanotechnology is used to reduce inequality rather than become a new source of it. 
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Systems of knowledge production

‘Where there is no knowledge people perish’ 

Knowledge is a social construct. The production of knowledge is a continuous exercise, combining eureka moments and the intention to create understanding of a phenomenon. Humanity has always striven to add new insights to what is already known, making knowledge a ‘signature of modernity’. Given the significant role that knowledge plays in a society it is important to ask questions about South Africa’s readiness to continuously produce new knowledge in the 4IR.  The participants in this session focus on systems of knowledge production that are encompassing and accommodate alternative sources of knowledge such as indigenous knowledge systems. The expectation is that the country will engage key players such as research institutions and universities as centres of knowledge production and at the same time reach out to the marginalised.

PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU CHOOSE YOUR DESIRED BREAKAWAY ROOM

THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND DURING THE EVENT.

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