As technology advances apace, new concepts get embraced and used in day-to-day activities. Today, President Ramaphosa has presented his speech at South Africa’s first Digital Economy Summit via hologram.

According to the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS), this is the first live holographic broadcast by a President.

Holography is a photographic technique that records the light scattered from an object and then presents it as three-dimensional. It displays objects in 3 D and real objects are reflected as though they are free-standing and it does not require a special viewing device.

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They can be described as human-compatible digital content as they actually reflect what the human eye sees. A hologram projected in a room could show a 3D concept car like it was really there.

The president delivered his address in Midrand today July 5, while the holographic facsimile displayed in Rustenburg Civic Centre, the Department of Telecommunications.

Ramaphosa used the technology in his address during Summit where he spoke on the importance of technology to South Africa’s future.

The summit which was themed “Positioning SA to be Globally Competitive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” brought together different public and private sector players.

“We need to focus on the new technology that is going to revolutionise the continent,” Ramaphosa said urging other African states to be champions of technology.

Notably, Ramaphosa pledged to provide the infrastructure needed to enable SA’s digital ascendancy and ensure all sectors of the economic benefit.

“Access to broadband connectivity is a liver to social economic inclusion and absolute necessity. Government is alive to this challenge hence its effort through its broadband connectivity initiative to connect 22 million unconnected people in South Africa,” he said.

In April this year, Ramaphosa appointed a 30-member presidential commission to look into opportunities presented by the digital industrial revolution.

[ President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing the #DigitalEconomySummit in Midrand. The Rustenburg leg of the summit experiences in real time, the delivery by the President through a holographic transmission #DES #4IRSA pic.twitter.com/0x06VtkwBr

— NWPG_Tourism (@NWPGTourism) July 5, 2019