The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (2016)

In 2016, this slide deck from the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative examined the importance of coworking to an ecosystem of digital entrepreneurs. It situated the initiative’s development in the earlier Bandwidth Barn, which the slides described as having begun 15 years previously as a place offering entrepreneurs strong internet connectivity. The deck presented a framework for a thriving ecosystem built around tenant mix, support and environment, with specialist hubs and collaboration linking those elements. Examples shown in the tenant mix included Domestly, The Open Medicine Project, outsourcedCFO, EDRO, Bitcoin Academy, Rise, Barclays and Women in Engineering. The slides also identified specialist communities and hubs such as Telkom FutureMakers, Virtual Reality South Africa and bitHub. Support was illustrated through the Barn and theCITi network, including CapaCiti and VeloCiti, alongside a women-in-business programme. A concluding diagram depicted open collaboration among bitHub, Bitcoin Academy, Barclays and Rise. Overall, the presentation described coworking as part of a broader support structure that combined shared space, sector-focused hubs, varied participants and institutional connections to foster technology entrepreneurship, sustainable economic growth and employment.

Key findings

• The deck traced the initiative’s origins to the Bandwidth Barn, described in 2016 as having started 15 years earlier with strong internet connectivity for entrepreneurs.
• Its ecosystem framework combined tenant mix, support and environment with specialist hubs and collaboration.
• The slides illustrated open collaboration among bitHub, Bitcoin Academy, Barclays and Rise.

Presented at Coworking Europe 2016