26 Apr 2022

Botswana needs to accelerate adoption of technologies because a knowledge-based economy is anchored on 4IR technologies, says Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development Mr Aubrey Lesaso. 

He was officially opening the  4th Department of Library and Information Studies biennial international conference in Gaborone yesterday. 

Mr Lesaso noted that due to rapid advancement of technologies there was a paradigm shift in information generation, storage, accessibility and use. 

He said the three-day conference would be a platform and opportunity for researchers, industry practitioners, information scientists, librarians, archivists and innovators to share experiences in diverse aspects of records, information and knowledge management including innovative knowledge solutions. 

“Collaboration between academia, government and industry is critical if we are to become a knowledge-based economy. I am very encouraged that participation at this conference would also include industrial practitioners and innovators,” he said. 

Themed ‘Information and Knowledge Management in the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) and COVID-19 Era, Mr Lesaso said the conference aimed to discuss the whole spectrum of information, knowledge and records management that would help give individuals and organisations a competitive edge in the global knowledge economy. 

He commended the department for holding a conference dealing with issues on the impact of 4IR on information and knowledge management.

 COVID-19,  he said,  had magnified the importance of information technology and the crucial role it played in continued socio-economic development. 

  For her part, the department’s  Professor Priti Jain,  said  during the COVID-19 era, technologies driving 4IR came to the rescue of education, business and many other aspects of life by enabling work to continue remotely. 

 Traditional libraries, records and archive management centres were being replaced by pervasive libraries and information systems, where information could be accessed and utilised anywhere and anytime, she said.

Prof Jain pointed out that knowledge had been at the heart of developed countries’ economic growth and its management was  tied to 4IR transformation. 

Therefore,  Botswana, like other countries,  was ardently embarking on a knowledge-based economy, she stated.

Noting that Vision 2036 was all about transforming Botswana into a knowledge-based economy, Prof Jain at the heart of the envisaged economy was innovation, IT, 4IR as well as skills and macro-economic environment development. 

These, she said, lent relevance and urgency to the conference theme and their importance for the country, region and globe. 

Turning to the conference, she said it would also focus on practical ideas and suggestions that ministries, private sector, non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations might consider for implementation. Ends