Setswana for “new beginnings”, Tshimologong is Johannesburg’s newest tech hub based at the inner-city district of Braamfontein expected to encourage tech innovation and collaboration between the University’s researchers and students and the private, public and civil society sectors in Johannesburg.
Apart from start-ups, the hub is expected to be home to researchers and transfer of high-level digital skills for students, working professionals and unemployed youths will take place.
“We hope that transforming Braamfontein into Africa’s premier technology hub will inspire new talent, create jobs and lead to an economic renaissance,” says Barry Dwolatzky, Professor of Software Engineering in the Wits School of Electrical and Information Engineering and Director of JCSE. “Tshimologong will be a start-up incubator, business accelerator and source of skills. The focus is on digital hardware, software and content. We are creating a hub space where people can get together, brainstorm and work on creative projects.”
The hub has flexible open-plan co-working areas with broadband connectivity for ICT start-ups, meeting and refreshment zones, computer laboratories, training rooms, maker spaces, creative content development environments, and administrative and infrastructure support offices.
As a project of the University of the Witwatersrand and its partners, the Wits Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct will complement the University’s suite of ICT-related offerings in research, courses and programmes in software engineering, data science, big data, digital business, and others to inspire the development of a new generation of digital technology experts, innovators and entrepreneurs.
Tshimologong will not only be accessible or open to University researchers and students, the Precinct is membership-based and will provide a space for skills development in the software and digital technology sector, help address unemployment, and encourage the growth of new businesses.