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About the CIO Forum

The CIO Forum facilitates in providing services that make it convenient for Chief Information Officers (CIO's), IT Professionals, Academics and Government to connect with one another and to discover opportunities to collaborate in developing the IT profession and sector. We do not seek to compete, control, dominate or represent the industry or act as a professional body. We aim to facilitate and provide a neutral platform and channel that connects individuals who are passionate about Information Technology and who truly want to make a difference.

The CIO Forum connects people and builds communities and social networks in the ICT sector. This is primarily achieved through social networks but it requires a more holistic approach. We have identified a number of services that we believe are required to grow and develop the CIO Forum community. This is in part facilitated through grass roots volunteerism but also through partnerships and commercial enterprise. The individuals within the network collaborate to provide these services and are encouraged to connect and build models for engaging and discovering what ultimately works to develop ICT related initiatives.

The primary goal of the CIO Forum is to bridge the gap between commerce and academia. Our objectives include:

1. To provide opportunities for students, graduates, researchers and academics.
2. To enhance the qualifications and opportunities for associated professionals.
3. To assist partners and members to build capacity and develop new business opportunities.
4. To engage in research and development in the pursuit of knowledge and innovation.
The CIO Forum is open to CIO's, Academics whose work falls into the intersection of business and technology, IT Professionals in Industry and Commerce, Government and Graduates. It is an educational and interactive gathering of IT professionals and academics which evolved as an informal social network of academics in response to calls for institutions in higher education to better prepare graduates entering the Information and Communication Technology sector. The CIO Forum is not open to consultants, recruiters or technology salespeople and/or marketers.
As academics and professionals, they felt the need to bring influential stakeholders such as those serving as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of corporate enterprise and academics teaching in universities to discuss a variety of important topics. They began by dealing with the lack of skills in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and reviewing the disparate views on internship and graduate programs held by corporate employers and academia.
Since 2009, the CIO Forum has grown as a South African social network with a view to broadening out into the African continent and we have also had a number of international CIO's who have joined and actively participate on the on-line forums . The CIO Forum was launched in 2008 with sponsorship by the Simeka Business Solutions Group and co-hosted by the Department of Information Systems of the Faculty of Economic and Management Science (EMS) at UWC and the School of Information and Design at CPUT. Academics from the Department of Information Systems at UCT and Social Informatics at SU have also joined and hosted these monthly breakfast forums. ICT industry role players such as Microsoft, Oracle and SAP have supported the forum and a number of influential stakeholders from government have presented and participated in our discussions.
The format of the breakfast forum is a conversation modelled on the concept of Cafe Conversations - visit The World Cafe. The opening topic of the forum was "ICT Skills Development - the Role of Universities and Employers". In discussions with academics and CIOs it was evident that there was support for such an event and more importantly that on-going conversations between these important role players needed to take place.
Apart from providing an opportunity to discuss ways of bridging the gap between academia and the working environment, it further provides a platform for establishing closer collaboration in building capacity, innovation and intellectual capital. CIOs gain insight into the academic program, research and initiatives being undertaken by the participating universities and academics can share, learn and engage with key decision makers in the sector.