Telkom's surprise "mega challenge" at Innovation Summit

The communications services provider will launch its first "open innovation" challenge at the summit, which aims to attract many of the country's renowned forward-thinking innovators, academics and business people seeking to learn, share, market and network innovations and ideas.

The nature of the challenge, to be announced on the first day of the summit, will be announced by Dr Brian Armstrong, Telkom's COO and run for six months after the summit. "We are very excited to be adding a riveting element to this year's Innovation Summit and are really looking forward to the public's participation," said Armstrong.

Innovation goes viral, catch it for growth

This year, the summit's theme - "Innovation goes viral, catch it for growth" - sets the platform for meaningful industry engagement. Telkom will be exhibiting at the Innovation Summit and encourages delegates of the summit to visit the Telkom stand to find out more about Telkom's latest innovations and, more importantly, find out about the Telkom "mega challenge".

According to Dr Audrey Verhaeghe, CEO of the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS), "open innovation" is a hugely important concept that needs to be fully embraced by South Africa to fuel economic growth and make the country more creative and productive in an increasingly competitive international environment. "We're looking forward to the launch of the 'mega challenge' and are excited about this added, fantastic opportunity for delegates attending the summit," said Verhaeghe.