South Africa’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies recently published a Draft National Data and Cloud Policy for public comment, which is due by 18 May 2021.
The Draft Policy seeks to chart a course for government action on data and cloud computing as a potential economic driver. Its stated purpose is enabling South Africans ‘to realise the socio-economic value of data through the alignment of existing policies, legislation and regulations’ by, among other things, establishing a ‘conducive and enabling environment for the data ecosystem to thrive’.
To help diverse stakeholders think about the implications of this fast changing field and prepare constructive responses to the Draft Policy, Research ICT Africa hosted a webinar on 6 May 2021 with the aim of unpacking different elements and potential implications of the Draft Policy.
RIA's Dr Alison Gillwald hosted a discussion with a high-level panel of experts including:
- Torbjörn Fredriksson, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
- Amazouz Souhila, African Union Commission
- Prof Jonathan Klaaren, Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research
- Andrea Campbell, Microsoft South Africa
- Gabriella Razzano, Research ICT Africa
