The SA BRICS Business Council is looking for South Africa’s best up-and-coming tech talent to represent the country in the BRICS Future Skills Challenge. This year’s Future Skills Challenge will help solve problems that BRICS (South Africa, Brazil, Russia, India and China) face around energy, water and health. Prospective participants must apply before 30 June 2023.
The event is being hosted in person and virtually by South Africa in Johannesburg from 12 to 15 September 2023 and hundreds of competitors from all the BRICS countries are expected to participate. 120 participants are sought to represent South Africa and their travel expenses will be covered. Those selected to participate will be required to 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 and can enter as individuals or teams. The selected participants will compete against young people from the other BRICS countries.
Joanne Brink, Founder of TechWays and Project Lead at BRICS Future Skills, highlights that, “The benefits of participating in the BRICS Future Skills Challenge extend beyond recognition as one of SA’s top tech minds. The young people selected to participate will receive training and exposure to real-world case studies. They will receive a certificate of participation and international experience to add to their CVs, and they will have an opportunity to benchmark their skills at a global level. Those who perform well in the competition will be introduced to potential employers and will be recognised as among 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 required tech skills for the future.”
Training will be provided for all competitors under the guidance of experts. This will take place on Saturdays in August via webinar.
The skills categories in which South Africans will compete include: aircraft maintenance, agri IOT, building information modelling, cybersecurity, data science, digital twin technology, drones, internet marketing, manufacturing robotics, mobile app development, renewable energy, and robotic process automation.
For more information or to apply for the challenge visit: www.bricsfutureskills.co.za by 30 June 2023.
