Meraka Institute

The Meraka Institute derives its mandate as a national strategic initiative from President Mbeki's 2002 State of the Nation Address, where the concept of an ICT University was first announced. A large-scale intervention in the ICT space to address challenges in both the first economy (well developed and integrated with the global economy) and the second economy (characterised by informal economic activity and poverty). As such, human and intellectual capital interventions are required that address both advanced technical research challenges ("wealth creation") and urgent developmental challenges ("quality of life").