Adopting technology to improve service delivery at municipal level will be at the heart of a two-day learning forum hosted by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI). New technologies could assist municipalities in modernising governance, managing escalating debt, and discovering new methods of revenue generation.

Taking place in Cape Town on 23-24 October, the DSI is set to introduce a new decision-support tool to municipalities across the country, to help assess their state of readiness to adopt technology for improved service delivery.

While the fourth industrial revolution presents opportunities for the adoption of technological tools that could improve the delivery of basic services such as water and sanitation, little is known about the capacity of municipal officials to implement and manage such innovations.

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), an entity of the DSI, partnered with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) to develop the Municipal Innovation Maturity Index (MIMI) as a tool through which these capabilities can be measured at municipal level.

The MIMI seeks to determine the “innovation readiness” of local municipalities to adopt and implement such innovations.

Supported by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), the MIMI will enable municipalities to identify strengths that can be further reinforced and weaknesses that can be addressed, allowing for improved mobilisation of resources and support.

The project follows the introduction of the DSI’s Innovation Partnerships for Rural Development Programme (IPRDP) to 27 rural municipalities in 2014. The MIMI will cover 157 municipalities across South Africa.

Source: Department: Science and Technology