By Prof. Enos Kiremire
– The significance of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology in Northern Namibia
Every journey no matter how long, starts with a single step. Likewise, an oak tree (one of the giant tree species known on earth) is produced from the germination and growth of a small seed.
Clearly the ground-breaking ceremony for the new University of Namibia (UNAM) Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology that took place at Ongwediva town in the northern part of Namibia on Saturday, November 17, 2007 is such a step and a seed that symbolizes the beginning of heavy industrialization and real economic development in Namibia.
As usual, the function started with the singing of the Namibian National Anthem, followed by the AU Anthem. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. L. Hangula gave the welcoming remarks. Hon. Hemuth Angula who is a biophysicist by training was the guest speaker.
He stressed the urgent need to train engineers and promote cooperation with the private and public sectors as well as individuals.
Furthermore, besides pledging NPC’s support for the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, he advised UNAM to cooperate with the Ministry of Trade and Industry as well as a named research centre in Germany.
The Chancellor of the University of Namibia, Dr Nujoma gave a keynote address. In his inspiring speech, he congratulated UNAM for the bold and revolutionary move taken to start the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology. He noted that massive investment is needed in order to fully accomplish this vital project. He also thanked China, India and Nigeria for their continued support for Namibia.
While commending UNAM for establishing academic links with the University of Dar es Salaam and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology to assist Namibian students wishing to pursue studies in Engineering, he also advised it to explore the possibilities of establishing more links with some of the universities of West Africa.
The Implications
This occasion of the Official Ground Breaking Ceremony for the new UNAM Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology marks the beginning of a major step towards the potential heavy industrialization of Namibia.
With this Faculty once operational in 2009, the production of specialized home-grown engineers will commence in Namibia. These will be engineers specialized in fields such as mechanical, electrical, chemical, civil, metallurgical, software, and computer engineering, just to mention a few.
The faculty will become an ‘oak seed’ that might eventually germinate into the future first University of Science and Technology in Namibia.
The production of well trained scientists and engineers could easily transform the northern region into a huge industrial complex of Namibia.
Namibian Silicon Valley: Catalyst for Heavy Industrialization
The production of a large number of highly trained engineers and scientists will supply and saturate the required manpower market in various sectors of the Namibian economy. The excess will start companies which will research on and manufacture various machinery, equipment and electronic components (etc) in the country and perhaps more so in the northern region.
Thus, the northern region could easily become the silicon valley of Namibia. The various towns that could be absorbed by the industrialization impact in the next 15-30 years are Oshivelo, Ondangwa, Ongwediva, Oshakati, Oshikuku, Ombulantu, Ompundja, Okahao, Oshikango (a vibrant border town with Angola) and Tsumeb could eventually be influenced.
Silicon Valley of the USA and the Role of Stanford University
The term Silicon Valley (of the USA) refers to a region in the northern part of California. It is a valley (known as Santa Clara Valley) located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay. Silicon refers to the high concentration of semi-conductor and computer-related industries in the area whose major raw material is silicon (in many cases silicon carbide).
Silicon carbide (SiC) which is produced from quartz (sand, SiO2) and carbon (coke, C). This augurs well for Namibia as it has a vast amount of sand in the Namib Desert and elsewhere as well as suspected amounts of coal.
The concept of Silicon Valley industrialization had a humble beginning. It all began with Prof. Frederick Terman who was the Provost (equivalent to Vice-Chancellor) of Stanford University (1955-1965).
Stanford Industrial Park
Prof. Terman mooted the novel idea of creating Stanford Industrial Park which could be leased to engineering graduates to start private businesses in response to the shortage of employment by many graduates, some of whom had returned from the Second World War (WWII).
As Stanford has massive land acreage, this idea was immediately implemented. The US Silicon Valley industry started experimentation and innovation in the fields of radio, television, and military electronics.
Stanford University, its affiliates and graduates played a major role in the evolution of the industry as well as providing immense support to the American military complex. Thus, Stanford Industrial Park played a vital role in catalyzing the industrial transformation of Silicon Valley and the American economy as a whole.
A good number of present-day trans-national and multinational companies such Lockheed, Hewlett-Packard, Eastman Kodak and General Electric have had their origins in Silicon Valley.
Some of the initiators of these companies such as William Hewlett and David Packard (founders of Hewlett-Packard) are graduates of Stanford University. Other giant companies found in Silicon Valley include Adobe Systems, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Agilent Technologies, Apple Inc., Applied Materials, CISCO Systems, eBay, Electronic Arts, Google, Intel, Intuit, Juniper Networks, LSI Logic, Maxtor, Nagarro Inc., National Semiconductor, and Network Appliance.
Other companies with presence in Silicon Valley include Netscape, Opera Software, Sony, Silicon Graphics Nintendo of America, Fujitsu, Hitachi and many more.
The current population of Silicon Valley is 2,3 million with a work-force of 1,5 million (62% of the population).
Those employed in the high-tech (highly trained engineers/scientists) comprise 25% of the work-force (375 000).
Apart from activating the industrialization of Silicon Valley, Stanford University (established in 1891 and currently ranked # 1 in the world) has produced, among others, 50 Nobel prize winners and affiliates, 4 Pulitzer Prize winners, 24 MacArthur Fellows, and 7 Wolf Foundation Prize winners.
It is ranked third in wealth (US$ 9.9 billion) world wide.
It is interesting to know that Emory University which is eighth ranked (US$ 4.0 billion) and responsible for the discovery of 80% of currently used ARIVs (AIDS drugs) collects US$720 million annually from royalties (this information was obtained this year from the conference presentation in Cape Town by an Emory Professor).
Indian Silicon Valley, Bangalore
The Indian silicon valley was the brainchild of Dr. R. K. Baliga, the First Chairman and Managing Director of Karnataka State Electronics. The project which started in 1976 was modelled along the lines of the American Silicon Valley with the sole purpose of expanding the electronics industry in India. It is located in the city of Bangalore in the southern part of India.
Unlike the American Silicon Valley which is actually located in a valley, the Indian silicon valley is located on a plateau. Hence a more appropriate nickname term should have been “the Silicon Plateau of India”.
The Indian silicon valley with a population of 6.5 million has since 1976 been industrialized so much that it now has more than 10 000 industries most of which deal with electronics related products including computers.
Bangalore is the headquarters of many companies including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Bharat Electronics Limited, Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
In 2006-07, the industrial activities of Bangalore alone contributed 33% of total Indian exports.
In 2003, Bangalore had 150 000 Information Technology (IT) engineers more than those in the US Silicon Valley (120 000) – just 31 years since the inception of Baliga’s concept. Furthermore, it is reported that India’s institutions of higher learning are pumping out an additional 260 000 well trained IT engineers annually, a good number of whom end up in the American Silicon Valley and other countries.
The Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore which only concentrates on postgraduate training and research in science is currently ranked number 2 in India, 55 in Asia and 696 in the world. Its ranking is higher than that of the University of Pretoria and the University of Witwatersrand (currently ranked 4th and 5th respectively in Africa).
Conclusion
Since about two-thirds (67%) of the Namibian population live in the north, the introduction, nurturing and the full implementation of the silicon valley type of industrialization in the north could be crucial in the realization of the objectives of Namibia’s Vision 2030.
Just like the novel ideas of Prof. Frederick Terman, the former Provost of Stanford University and Dr Baliga, the first Chairman and Managing Director of Karnataka State Electronics, resulted in the immense transformation of the American and Indian economies in recent times, respectively, the oak seed of science just sewn by the University of Namibia’s top management in the form of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology ought to be fully and wholeheartedly embraced by the Government, private sector (companies operating or hoping to operate in Namibia), friendly countries (old and new), NGOs, churches, individuals and the all well-wishers (Namibians and foreigners) as this could readily spark off a major chain reaction for the heavy industrialization of Namibia whose impact can easily spread to neighbouring countries.
(The original article was shortened – Ed.)
– Prof. E M R Kiremire is the Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Namibia.