The Free State Health Director of Information and Education Technology, Bandile Ntombela, told OFM News that the summit aims to create industries to absorb graduates holding technology-related qualifications, as there aren't enough employment opportunities for them in the province.

The Office of the Premier, in partnership with the Central University of Technology (CUT), Free State, is hosting a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) summit on Thursday. Ntombela further explained that this summit would give a platform to people in the technology sector to work at a larger scale.

He said big industries and academia are invited to introduce development through technology and share knowledge of how technology can be used for entrepreneurship and innovation.

"There's a study done by the World Bank that if we invest at least 10% more than what we currently have in IT, we've got the potential to increase the size of the GDP contribution by about 10%. So it does have labour absorption capabilities. We just need to harness that as a province, so that we are better coordinated, we are a bit more competitive compared to other provinces, and we also need to take some solutions that are borne out of the Free State and take them globally, because that's what technology can do."

OFM News/Mpho Mohapi and Nomathamsanqa Mboyisi