CITI Cafe Conversations at Sinns in Wembley
The Cape IT Initiative (CITI) is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to develop and support the information and communications technology (ICT) cluster in the Western Cape.
As such it is one of the oldest creative industry sectors to be organised as a body that straddles the needs of government and business. On 8 February 2010, CITI hosted its first “CITI Cafés” – a series of Cafe Conversations at different café venues in Cape Town, aimed at engaging stakeholders in the development and implementation of a re-vitalized CITI vision, strategy and program beyond 2010. Visit the CITI Cafe website to find out more and track the process.
Stakeholders come not just in the ICT industry, but also in the creative industries, with the belief that these conversations provide an opportunity for greater collaboration. A “hybrid-Hollywood model” is being presented at the meeting in the belief that a model based on production teams may deal with many of the challenges the IT industry faces. CITI and its partner body the Bandwidth Barn have decided to back the focus on design as one area of engagement for the ICT sector and have shown their strong support for and engagement with the East City Design Initiative and World Design Capital Bid. It recognizes that areas like animation and gaming are some of the many exciting directions for strengthening the local ICT sector.
