In partnership with Huawei and Rain, Wits University Johannesburg recently launched Africa’s first 5G innovation lab situated in the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct.
The collaboration has Huawei providing their end to end 5G solution alongside Rain’s 5G network as part of a longer-term joint innovation program between business and the academic institution.
The Huawei Southern Africa Region VP, Yang Chen said that the project aims to provide students access to a live 5G environment to build their knowledge, experiment on, and interact with the 5G technology’s applications.
Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Dr. Blade Nzimande in his remarks appreciated the collaborative efforts of the project partners and expressed his optimism on how the R&D capabilities enhance South Africa’s move to a digital economy.
Huawei also pointed out how the lab will enable virtual reality (VR) remote learning opportunities for student lectures and feature a hub relaying feeds from cross-campus safety and security camera networks.
The new 5G technology is a welcome development in the region that is said to be a key pillar for most technology applications in the 4th Industrial Revolution.