Looking at how the successful emerging economies (read China) are doing things, I can't help but think that South Africa is missing a trick.
Leapfrogging (in terms of national policy and technology) is the process of adopting next generation technologies instead of implementing those that are currently being used by the developed world. This process would include initiatives such as renewable energy projects, and emphasis on computing and robotics programs.
China's making a big push to use these "leapfrog" technologies to get an edge over the US, and as we're soon to become part of B.R.I.C.(S), we should be following suit, yes? That would make sense? ... but no... we're still building coal based power stations, and looking to the west and Europe for our business models.
I think this is a major oversight by our "leaders", and stems from simple short-sightedness. 50-100 years from now, South Africans will be looking at the new global economic powerhouses (China, Japan, South Korea), and wondering where our development went wrong...
-Odd
"To be thrown upon one's own resources, is to be cast into the very lap of fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy of which they were previously unsusceptible" -Benjamin Franklin
Woo-hoo! Totally. Its bad enough that S.A. Implements policies that have obviously failed countries who tried them before. We will never be able to look to the future if we cant even look past
ReplyDeletethe past to see the present. Awesome blog odd. Keep it up. And congrats on the new job. Http://businessminds.yolasite.com
It's not so much what hasn't worked in other parts of the world... the US has done very well with the oil game, but that doesn't mean we should be jumping into it... we should be adopting future technologies now so that when they hit the main steam, we will be competing on an equal footing with the established economies.
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