A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Management (MMENVC) Johannesburg, February 2016 / This paper aims to look at the barriers of ICT adoption amongst Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa, specifically in the high growth-manufacturing sector. The population of the study is comprised of manufacturing SME owners and managers in Gauteng, South Africa. The objectives of this study are threefold. Firstly, it aims to establish which ICTs SMEs are currently making use of in South Africa. Secondly, it will analyse the perceived value added to SMEs through ICT adoption. And thirdly, the study endeavours to unearth the various barriers faced by SMEs when adopting ICTs. The research consists of data collection from 81 SMEs in the manufacturing sector in Gauteng, South Africa, by means of an online questionnaire. The data was analysed through a variety of statistical techniques covering both descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis. The following conclusions were reached:  Three barriers examined are significantly important to the adoption of ICTs, namely lack of existing hardware, immediate return on investment (ROI), and lack of infrastructure.  The perceived value of ICT has a positive, significant relationship to ICT adoption.  The majority of SMEs still predominantly make use of general ICTs, with more advanced ICT use lagging behind significantly. The majority of respondents have Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services (69%), Internet access and e-mail (90%), as well as telephone (89%) and fax (82%) services as ICTs that have already been implemented.  The education level of the owner/manager has a significant, positive relationship with the level of ICT adoption, particularly amongst general-use ICT and production- integrating ICT. / MB2016

Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2016. / Increasingly, innovation through technology transfer is seen as a mechanism through which economic growth can be spurred. The South African National Innovation System (NIS) is built on this premise, leading to the emergence of Technology Transfer Organizations (TTOs) such as the Technology Innovation Agency’s (TIA’s) Technology Stations Programme. The Technology Stations Programme addresses, and attempts to alleviate, the slow overall decline of South African industrial sectors through innovation work for industrialization. It is not clear, however, how the TIA monitors and evaluates, and hence measures the economic and socio-economic outcomes of the Technology Stations Programme. This is because the relationship between the strategic objectives of the programme, and the performance indicators used for impact assessment is not clear. This study identifies the use of the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) Scorecard of indicators as the framework for performance reporting at the Technology Stations Programme. The study describes the SETI framework and then evaluates it, finding that it is not well defined and lacks the properties required of a framework of indicators to make it an adequate tool for performance reporting. Other problems compromising the reporting on the Technology Stations Programme have to do with the seemingly incomplete nature of reports, occasional incoherence and seeming carelessness where there are graphic errors in the reporting. This inadequate monitoring and evaluation, and performance reporting is concerning because interview work suggests that the Technology Stations Programme is highly successful in supporting SMMEs and offering them technology related services that contribute to industrial policy through innovation work. The failure to have a SETI Scorecard of indicators that is functional enough to make these outcomes in the Technology Stations Programme visible in formal reporting is concerning as programme evaluation should make known the effects of policies. In the case of the Technology Stations Programme these effects are crucial as the technology transfer taking place in the programme is anticipated to achieve grand objectives in the way of economic value adding and industrial expansion. This necessitates the need to capture the outcomes related to these objectives, and make future decisions on the Technology Stations Programme as well as other technology transfer programmes.

Thesis (M.M. (Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation)), University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2016. / Over the past few years the South African market has seen the launch of a number of online video services providers. The leading providers in the industry are Vidi, ON-Tap, MTN front row and ShowMax. The industry has also attracted some international competition with big players like Netflix launching its services in the South African market in January 2016. Although this industry has seen the emergence of many new players, it is still in its infacy stages in South Africa and is still to be seen if it will mature into a long term profit making industry. It is important to research the diffusion of innovation and more specially to look at how technopreneurs that are in this field or considering entering this industry can influence the speed and success of how this new innovation is diffused. This research will focus on two areas. Firstly, it will seek to look at the factors that influence the potential adopter’s propensity to adopt a new product. Secondly the research will look at the role played by the technopreneur in ensuring that online video services are adopted successfully. Since the online video services industry is not yet mature the research was conducted using the mixed method approach. The quantitative research was conducted by distributing online survey questionnaires. These questionnaires were distributed using email, as well as social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. The qualitative research was conducted by performing interviews with a predetermined list of respondents. The combination of the two types of research led to a better understanding of this topic. The results the research highlighted the fact that the South African market poses very unique challenges for entrepreneurs that want to enter this industry. South African technopreneurs have an advantage against international players like Netflix because they understand challenges of internet access, payment issues as well as preferred content. / XL2018

This paper reviews the literature on innovation in order to build an agenda for an investigation into the extent to which Metropolitan Retail, within Metropolitan Life Pty in South Africa, focuses on technology innovation capabilities and perspectives. The research was conducted in the areas of, technology innovation capabilities, perspectives guiding the business strategy to integrate and accelerate innovation and contextual aspects influencing innovation perspectives. The extent of focus by the firm on capabilities and perspectives was measured. Data gathered was disseminated and processed by means of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. The results on current focus indicate that the firm’s focus is mostly on improving core business, although the extent is less than adequate. In other words, generate incremental innovations that can be developed and implemented rapidly and inexpensively. This approach of implementing innovation is in line with the business strategy, more specifically, with the objective of reducing costs and making profits. The findings of the research further suggest that the firm should consider focusing mostly on exploiting strategic advantages. In many firms the fundamental emphasis on technology innovation in developing products, processes and services is thought to determine their ability to cope with never ending customer demands and competitive practices. Coupled with this thought is a reality of high failure rate of technology innovation projects. Against this backdrop, general managers are faced with strategic innovation options, which can make or break firms. Changes in the economic and government environments influence the innovation approach of the firm most. These changes have undoubtedly presented firms with opportunities as well as risks. Possibly the greatest challenge confronting general managers in this context is the building of critical capabilities to enhance the firm’s agility. This challenge presents opportunity for further research.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Technology Degree in Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2014. / This dissertation reports on handover in downlink Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. The LTE is seen as the technology that will bring about Fourth Generation (4G) mobile broadband experience. The necessity to maintain quality of service for delay sensitive data services and applications used by mobile users makes mobility and handover between base stations in the downlink LTE very critical. Unfortunately, several handover schemes in LTE are based on Reference Symbols Received Power (RSRP) which include measurement error due to limited symbols in downlink packets. However, prompt and precise handover decision cannot be based on inaccurate measurement. Therefore, the downlink LTE intra-system handover is studied with focus on user measurement report. The study centers on preparation stage of the LTE handover procedure. Two different types of physical layer filtering technique namely linear averaging and local averaging are focused upon among others investigated. The performance of LTE conventional physical layer filtering technique, linear filtering, is compared with an alternative technique called local averaging. The output of each physical layer filtering is then used for LTE standardized radio resource layer filtering (otherwise called L3 filtering). The analysis of results from handover decision is based on simulations performed in an LTE system-level simulator. The performance metrics for the results are evaluated in terms of overall system and mobility-related performance. The system performance is based on spectral efficiency and throughput while mobility-related performance is based on handover failure. The performance comparison of the results shows that local averaging technique provides improved system performance of about 51.2 % for spectral efficiency and 42.8% cell-edge throughput for high speed users. Local averaging also produces a reduction of about 26.95% in average number of handover failure when L 3 filtering is applied for low speed mobile terminal. This result confirms that both averaging techniques are suitable for LTE network. Moreover, in the case of high mobility local averaging tends to be better than linear averaging.

Communication amongst field devices, control unit and programming unit in industrial automation networks is essential for bulk production, but largely consists of wired networks that can sometimes be bulky and substantially lack mobility as at times there can arise a need for a field device to be moved either for maintenance purposes or for rearrangement. There was therefore a need for wireless communication and PROFIBUS networks that can provide the minimum movement to field devices or the programing computer. Although wireless communication technology has penetrated the commercial network, it is still inadequately utilised in industrial settings due to electromagnetic induction and other forms of interferences due to industrial machinery. This dissertation introduced wireless communication in a PROFIBUS network where the MPI section was replaced with the wireless link. The PROFIBUS network technology is a hybrid of protocols where the PROFIBUS DP employs RS485 technology with a transmission rate of 45 kbps and above while the PROFIBUS PA employs Manchester Encoded Bus Powered (MBP) technology at a fixed rate of 31.25 kbps. In RS485 technology, data is transmitted as a voltage difference between the two wires while in MBP data is transmitted as transitions in current signal and data and power are transmitted on the same conductors. The PROFIBUS data is also transmitted in the form of telegrams which further puts a strain on any form of intermediate processing and hence the need for high speed processing. In this research task the PROFIBUS PA level transmitter measures the pressure of the fluid in the Blend Chest and sends it to the PLC. The level transmitter was installed and wired to the PROFIBUS DP/PA coupler. The PROFIBUS network, consisting of the PLC, variable speed drives, variable speed pumps, delivery pump and level transmitter, was configured and commissioned for controlling and monitoring from the programing computer. The program for the PLC was written using Siemens Step-7, compiled and downloaded to the PLC. The control and monitoring was done using the variable table. The wireless communication channel was then simulated using Matlab and Simulink. The wireless devices were then integrated into the PROFIBUS network and the MPI cable linking the programing computer and the PLC was then replaced by the wireless channel and the network was controlled and monitored from the programing computer over the wireless channel. On successful completion of this research task the research plant at MUT was controlled and monitored from the programing computer over the wireless channel and the researchers and demonstrators can now access the PLC and the PROFIBUS network using the wireless communication. / Electrical Engineering / M. Tech. (Electrical Engineering)

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Information and Communications Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / The future of modern cities largely depends on how well they can tackle intrinsic problems that confront them by embracing the next era of digital revolution. A vital element of such revolution is the creation of smart cities and associated technology infrastructures. Smart city is an emerging phenomenon that involves the deployment of information communication technology wares into public or private infrastructure to provide intelligent data gathering and analysis. Key areas that have been considered for smart city initiatives include monitoring of weather, energy consumption, environmental conditions, water usage and host of others. To align with the smart city revolution in the area of environmental cleanliness, this study involves the development of a web based smart city infrastructure for refuse disposal management using the design science research approach. The Jalali smart city reference architecture provided a template to develop the proposed architecture in this study. The proposed architecture contains four layers, which are signal sensing and processing, network, intelligent user application and Internet of Things (IoT) web application layers. A proof of concept prototype was designed and implemented based on the proposed architecture. The signal sensing and processing layer was implemented to produce a smart refuse bin, which is a bin that contains the Arduino microcontroller board, Wi-Fi transceiver, proximity sensor, gas sensor, temperature sensor and other relevant electronic components. The network layer provides interconnectivity among the layers via the internet. The intelligent user application layer was realized with non browser client application, statistical feature extraction and pattern classifiers. Whereas the IoT web application layer was realised with ThingSpeak, which is an online web application for IoT based projects. The sensors in the smart refuse bin, generates multivariate dataset that corresponds to the status of refuse in the bin. Training and testing features were extracted from the dataset using first order statistical feature extraction method. Afterward, Multilayer Perceptron Artificial Neural Network (MLP-ANN) and support vector machine were trained and compared experimentally. The MLP-ANN gave the overall best accuracy of 98.0%, and the least mean square error of 0.0036. The ThingSpeak web application connects seamlessly at all times via the internet to receive data from the smart refuse bin. Refuse disposal management agents can therefore query ThingSpeak for refuse status data via the non browser client application. The client application, then uses the trained MLP-ANN to appositely classify such data in order to determine the status of the bin. / M

Script contains articles in Afrikaans and some text also in Afrikaans / Opportunities abound in the Armaments industry is South Africa and abroad. This is probably one of the main reasons why it has grown to almost astronomical amounts in va lu e . Simultaneously, the vast f igures in turnover and profits have attracted numerous competitors into the business. The next factor which has contributed most significantly to the increase in development and manufacture of armaments is of course the need of countries to defend themselves against aggressors. Political unrest , terrorism , border conflicts , war and invasions are the order of the day. All of these events require a show of arms, if not retaliation . In order to satisfy a need for strategic independence, even to a limited extent , countries have insisted on development and establishment of various categories of technologies. During the past fifty years there has been an explosion in the amount of information published in the technology sector. Some highly sophisticated technologies have become commonplace in most technical fields , including the armaments industry . As might be expected, the armaments industry is also greatly influenced by trends and change in the sector of economics, by social and cultural factors , and new legislation. It may rightfully be regarded as a highly volatile , complex and dynamic part of any economy. Under these circumstances the role of technology management in a country and in a business enterprise becomes more important, more difficult , and more essential. To ensure that a large organisation stays competitive, or becomes more competitive, the system of planning and control must be well integrated , kept up to date, and well/managed to fulfil its purpose. For the purpose of this script an investigation was undertaken into the corporate and business systems for technology management in a firm in the local engineering industry . The description covers planning and control theory, system models, innovation and technology management principles , and the theory of forecasting methods usually adapted for technology predictions , Evaluation of the practical systems which are in place and are being utilised , led to a few significant observations and conslusions. The investigation was by no means exhaustive, but was aimed at getting an overview of the corporate and business systems as they operate with in the stated strategic frameworks. It is concluded that technology planning and control systems are well-developed, highly integrated and applied in a top-down fashion . Not all aspects are conducted as efficiently as should be possible. Also, due to the dynamic nature of the industry, effectiveness can still improve for the company. Moves are afoot to meet new challenges and requirements and there is no doubt that the future will see great achievements. / Business Management / M.B.L.

Thesis submitted in fulfillment for the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the low rate of registration of IP rights such as patents, trademark and design rights at the DUT, through a survey conducted with the academic research staff. Managing IP at a University of Technology today has new dimensions with the implementation of the IP Act 51 of 2008. Stimulation of the development and commercialization of technology within South Africa may benefit the country and its citizens. The knowledge economy indicates that research, development and innovation are fundamental prerequisites for achieving and maintaining competitiveness and sustained growth. The researcher undertook to explore reasons for low IP registration as a means to increase such activity at the DUT. This study adopted both the qualitative and quantitative methodologies with questionnaires distributed to full-time academic staff in selected departments. Factors that contributed to the gap between academic research and intellectual property registration were examined. This study investigates activities relating to patent registration, as well as the academic performance of researchers at DUT. The literature reviewed indicated that factors affecting low intellectual property right activities at the DUT may be a lack of awareness, implications of the ownership provisions, funding and an effective institutional arrangement for the management of intellectual property. This study identified strengths and weakness of DUT‟s IP management system. It is envisaged that the findings of the study will contribute to increasing IP registration at the DUT, in particular, and other UoT‟s in general. Low IP registration can be attributed to lack of understanding and awareness of the ownership provisions of the IP Act. The study highlighted lessons to be learned from universities in other countries and how the DUT‟s system can grow into an efficient and effective means of promoting national innovation and economic growth. In an increasingly global world, the ability to invent, design and manufacture goods and services that people want is more vital to our future prosperity than ever.

<p>Information and communication technology (ICT) is foreign to a number of public libraries and those libraries that have a technology infrastructure in place, suffer from an under-utilization of the technology, owing to a shortage of skills that are critical to boost the library into the global information society. It is important that staff in public libraries have the necessary skills and positive attitude to use the technology offered to them. The main objective of this study was to determine the use of ICT's in Nyanga, Brown's Farm and Crossroads public libraries and make recommendations towards effective use of ICT in the above-mentioned public libraries.</p>