Huawei South Africa CEO, Spawn Fan receiving the Digital Innovator Award from Broadband Infraco non-executive director, Zandi Kabini.

South African technology enterprises and government must collaborate and fully participate in the process to digitally transform the country.

This is according to Huawei South Africa CEO Spawn Fan who addressed delegates at the State IT Agency’s (SITA) Digital Public Service Awards ceremony, held recently in Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Huawei South Africa won the Digital Innovator Award which recognises outstanding innovation and IT product development in the ICT Sector, specifically new methods, ideas and products that have accelerated digital transformation in SA – and supported IT innovation skills.

The 14th Annual GovTech Conference, themed ‘Reshaping the citizen experience through enhanced service delivery’, focused on the public sector ICT service delivery.

Fan said: “In Huawei’s view, connectivity and computing are the cornerstones of the digital economy. The convergence of connectivity and computing will change industries and government, in critical areas like education, and healthcare to create new value for society.”

He also outlined Huawei’s efforts to support innovation, not just as a hardware and solution provider, but as an investor in the entire ICT ecosystem – including a commitment to industry partnerships, supporting SMMEs and building and retaining an ICT talent pipeline for South Africa.

“Digitalisation is never achieved overnight,” Fan concluded. “A large number of technology enterprises are required to participate and a wide range of ICT talents are required to support the sustainable development of digitalisation.”

The event was attended by Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and Deputy Minister Philly Mapulane of South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, as well as industry CEOs, government ministers from four African countries, and officials from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).