The World Economic Forum (WEF) is set to launch another four of its Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) concept worldwide, including the first in South Africa at the University of Pretoria.

To be called the South African Centre for Industry and Technology, local academic institutions will collaborate in running it. According to the WEF, to accelerate innovation and partnerships in pursuit of its mission, the local centre will also partner with government and business and leverage the WEF’s global communities and initiatives – notably those led by the WEF’s centres for advanced manufacturing and supply chains, energy and materials and the fourth industrial revolution.

The WEF’s Centre for Energy and Materials supports a variety of initiatives aimed at fostering sustainable practices in energy production and consumption. Among these are efforts to secure critical minerals essential for the energy transition, decarbonise industrial clusters in alignment with net-zero goals and scale renewable energy sources while optimising electricity grids to accommodate modern consumption patterns.

In addition to the energy transition, the C4IR in South Africa will promote 4IR technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and blockchain to drive digital transformation across industries.

“The centre will help position South Africa for manufacturing readiness and support its sustainable energy transition towards net zero,” said Professor Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria.

The South African centre is the second in Africa – C4IR Rwanda was established in 2022. The other three new hubs announced by the WEF on January 23 are in Oman, Saudi Arabia and India. WEF’s global C4IR network now includes centres in over 20 countries.