Page 107 - University of Pretoria RESEARCH REVIEW 2018

UP’s Engineering 4.0 –
a research platform creating new possibilities
Sunil Maharaj, Dean: Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology
The fundamental building block for any vibrant economy is efficient and modern infrastructure. For South Africa and Africa to leapfrog into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), these building blocks must be in place in order to advance the necessary cyberphysical systems through data analytics, smart materials, artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT).
The Engineering 4.0 initiative in which the University of Pretoria has invested, is a unique outward-looking approach to create a research platform of opportunities.
Through the partnership with and investment by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL), this unique world-class African facility will be a place where novel ideas, scientific research, global expertise, students, academics, entrepreneurs and industry partners can converge to generate new thought leadership, innovation and training opportunities through collaborative partnerships.
Engineering 4.0 will be developed in phases: The initial facilities through the SANRAL grant will entail a national integrated materials reference laboratory, a research laboratory for pavement (road) engineering and a training laboratory. This will be combined with Africa’s first live traffic research facility and an accelerated pavement testing (APT) facility. The combination will allow for the development of an extensive database of material properties for the country and the evaluation of models in the APT and live traffic lanes by monitoring pavement response under both accelerated and live traffic conditions.
Work done in IoT sensor technologies, concrete, smart materials, and at the UP Institute for Big Data and Data Science, will realise this new approach to inter- and transdisciplinary research, innovation and application with industry partners and entrepreneurs.
Intelligent and Smart Transportation will be embodied in the Engineering 4.0 facility, while the investment will be closely aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals focussing, among others, on Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communication. This dual focus, through collaboration, innovation and impact, will seek to address South Africa’s job creation, poverty and inequality while implicitly addressing global grand challenges.
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