Cape Town is running out of water.

DAY ZERO – the day when water reserves are at zero – is approaching. For three consecutive years rainfalls were less than normal. But it is not the missing rainfall, reasons for the water shortage in the urban agglomeration of 3,8 million people go deeper, says the Economist. It is a lax response to a growing population and growing economic activities together with an over-subsidized agricultural sector, which uses the bigger part of the water. It happens that we are organizing the next GLOBAL INNOVATION EXPERT seminar in Cape Town, on March 8/9, 2018. And we are confronted with dramatic headlines:

For the first time in modern history a major city runs out of water…

says BBC and names the 11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water. So, doomsday is approaching. Maybe not. In Europe we tend to overlook that the world has been steadily becoming a better place. Poverty is on decline and human mankind had never before enjoyed such a high level of material wealth. (But distributed more and more unevenly, you will reply. No, on global level that is not the case. Developing countries are catching up.) Behind this success story lies one important force: Innovation! And that is what our seminar in Cape Town is all about. So we have organized a specific session in our seminar:

Turning a crisis into an opportunity: Cape Town’s water crises – by George Gabriel

George is managing a campaign called the Alliance for Cape Town’s Future. They bring together business, civil society and government in order to accelerate technical and social innovations. And George wants to establish Cape Town as a role model where other cities can learn from. As one of  the first truly ‘smart cities’ of the world. ————————————- Global Innovation Expert, Cape Town, March 8 and 9, 2018 It is part of a seminar series on innovation ecosystems around the world
 

Similar Posts

  • Why we need Management 3.0

    To be a manager is not really “in” in the moment. Managers are very much associated with obscenely high bonuses and at the same time with mass lay-offs of employees. Managers make our societies more unequal and more unsustainable. No wonder nobody thinks of managers when it comes to making the world a better place. And yet it is the profession…

  • Why not Investing in African Banking?

    African banks are making record profits whilst African companies are paying exorbitant interest rates on their loans. Is this an opportunity for European investors to invest in growth markets?

  • Why Africa’s Progress Will Bring More Migration—Not Less

    On May 18, 2018, I was invited for the second time to the Tolerance Talks in Fresach to take part in a discussion. The guiding question was: Were open borders a misunderstood liberal concept? Of course not—that was my short answer. But a different environment requires different thinking. The interconnected global society—with globalisation, digitalisation, connectivity,…

  • Why a stimulus from Africa can help Europe to overcome its own crises

    Why European companies have to be present in Africa, part 4: Being present in African countries helps to see again that an increasing division of labour, more free trade and more and more networked systems not only reduce poverty in Africa, but are also the foundation of our own prosperity.

  • Western Aid at the Crossroads

    “Yes, that’s like it is!” has always been the answer when putting forward to an aid practitioner the principle of permanent acceleration: When a certain type of project or program has become mainstream, right before results are visible, the aid community moves on to the next, much more ambitious and difficult task. The new book on Western…