The Emerging Digital Technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (EDT4IR) Research Centre was created for the express purpose of supporting the CSIR in addressing the opportunities presented by 4IR emerging technologies underpinned by 4IR digital technology blocks, with the aim of enabling digital disruption in local enterprises to keep South African organisations relevant and competitive.

The strongest competitive edge that the Centre has is that it de-risks the investment in 4IR for South African organisations by undertaking valuable research and creating technology blocks that could be adopted by government and industry. The other advantage that the Centre has is that it is able to propose best-of-breed technologies without being beholden to any particular technology paradigm or vendor.

Objectives of the Centre

• Developing capabilities (human capital, processes, technology tools and infrastructure) in 4IR digital technology blocks, i.e., artificial intelligence, advanced Internet of Things, augmented realities, distributed ledger technology, etc.
• Building demonstration tools and platforms that showcase the practical application of transformative technology.
• Establishing and strengthening research, development and innovation community of practice in the areas of 4IR digital technology blocks.
• Providing the NextGen Enterprises and Institutions cluster and the wider CSIR impact areas and centres with digital tools that will enable the implementation of smart solutions in their domains.

The Centre is arranged into the following three focus areas:

• Artificial Intelligence and Extended Reality;
• Distributed Ledger Technologies; and
• Advanced Internet of Things