The SA BRICS Business Council is looking for South Africa’s best up-and-coming tech gurus to represent the country in the BRICS Future Skills Challenge. This year’s future skills Olympics will help solve problems that BRICS (South Africa, Brazil, Russia, India and China) face around energy, water and health.
This major event is being hosted in person and virtually by South Africa in Johannesburg from 12 – 15 September 2023 and hundreds of competitors are expected. 120 South African participants are sought and their travel expenses will be covered. Those selected to participate will solve real-world problems in their specific skill area, supported by subject experts.
Students at universities and TVET colleges and professionals aged between 16 and 35 are eligible to apply. If you are selected, you will compete against young people from the other BRICS countries. Individuals and teams can enter.
Joanne Brink, Founder of TechWays and Project Lead at BRICS Future Skills, explains that, “The benefits of participating in the BRICS Future Skills Challenge extend beyond recognition as one of SA’s top tech minds. If you are selected, you will receive training and exposure to real-world case studies. You’ll receive a certificate, international experience to add to your CV and an opportunity to benchmark your skills at a global level. Those who perform well in the competition will be introduced to employers and will be recognised as one of the top South Africans in their field.”
Brink adds, “The competition will also help clarify where there is a skills deficit and where South Africa should be concentrating its efforts to ensure we build a pipeline of future tech skills.”
Training will be provided for all competitors under the guidance of experts. This will take place on Saturdays in August via webinar.
There are several skills categories in which South Africans will compete:
- Aircraft maintenance
- Agri IOT
- Building information modeling
- Cyber security
- Data science
- Digital twin
- Drones
- Internet marketing
- Manufacturing robotics
- Mobile app development
- Renewable energy
- Robotic process automation
Apply at www.bricsfutureskills.co.za by 30 June 2023. Watch this video for details.