During the past 6 months, the Mobility Centre for Africa conducted extensive consultations with various stakeholders in the three spheres, viz., government, academia and industry. During these consultations it became clear that South Africa and the rest of Africa cannot afford to sit back and watch these disruptive technologies affecting the transport industry take their own course. The message has been clear that all affected stakeholders have to pull together to jointly manage the disruptive forces in a collaborative manner.

The MCA convened very successful 1-day roundtable events in Durban (October 2017), Johannesburg (November 2017) and Cape Town (February 2018). At these events representatives from government, public entities, academia and industry shared their perspectives on future prospects for South Africa and the rest of Africa. Whilst all other stakeholders can play a role in developing future mobility solutions, government remains the main protagonist in creating a conducive environment. It therefore became necessary for MCA to address the policy and legislative issues that need attention of government and how industry and academia can support in this endeavour. This matter was addressed extensively at the 3rd Roundtable meeting in Cape Town on February 13, 2018, wherein senior managers from the National Department of Transport presented their policy and legislative position.

The 4th Future Mobility Roundtable

The next Future Mobility Roundtable will be hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni and will focus on predicting future scenarios in line with the City’s vision for 2055.  This 1-day event will be organised as follows:

DATE:              April 11, 2018

VENUE:           Birchwood Hotel, Boksburg, Ekurhuleni

EVENT TYPE:  Unconference[1] (emphasis on crowdsourced ideas and solutions)

HOST:             City of Ekurhuleni

The host for this event, City of Ekurhuleni, has developed a long term strategic roadmap under the banner of Vision 2055. In response to this bold vision the MCA now wishes to challenge all sector specialists, thought leaders, experts and academics to predict how the future of mobility will evolve over the years to 2055. In the true spirit of unconference, the MCA has crowdsourced the prediction topics from the various specialist and thought leaders in the following areas:

Mass Transit Systems – Rail, Buses, Aviation, Hyperloop, etc.

Micro-Transit Systems – 1st and Last Mile, Ride-sharing, etc.

Drones and Aviation Convergence.

Smart Airport Cities and Aerotropoli.

Connected, Autonomous and Electric Vehicles, AI, IoT, Ecosystems.

Emerging and Future Jobs, Skills Gaps, Education and Training.

Freight Logistics and E-commerce.

Cyber Security, Privacy and Cloud Computing.

This event will be attended by 100 middle to senior managers from government, academia and industry, who will help deliberate on these predictions and also recommend the course for the future of our nation.

Attendance is limited to 100 participants and should you wish to attend please contact Nondumiso Sithole at Nondumiso@mobilitycentreafrica.com or 011 798 6000.