The world is being ushered into a new industrial future, which is set to change in a fundamental way, how people live daily. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will be fundamentally different from earlier industrial revolutions in its scope and complexity, as well as its scale. The rate, depth and breadth of the likely transformations promise to be breathtaking and disruptive to all industries everywhere, especially for their production systems, management as well as governance.  It is not clear how its future will look, but clues about  what will shape winners or losers are emerging. Clearly innovation is critical, but so also is the constant restating of shared values that safeguard our common humanity. One thing is certain; the future will be like nothing the world has seen before. To make the most of it will require coordinated effort of all stakeholders, including the public and private sectors, academia and industry, as well as civil society.

The coming Fourth Industrial Revolution is based on the electronics and information technology that characterized the third revolution and is distinguished by the merging of technologies, muddling the distinction between the cyber, physical and biological worlds. Smart Generation Computing and Communication Networks (SGCCN) 2023 offers the prospect of connecting billions of people, animals and objects each with a device with phenomenal processing power and storage capacity. This will unleash an unparalleled amount of data, which can be analyzed for unlimited knowledge. Advances in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, wireless communication, instrumentation, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and quantum computing will have a multiplicative effect on progress made. The impact of artificial intelligence is already evident with drones, self-driving cars and trains, virtual experts in the fields of medicine, law, investment, etc. This progress has been made possible by the rapid advances in the field of computation and the ability to analyze vast amounts of data very quickly in a way that was hitherto unimaginable. The range of applications for computing technology is wide, covering predictive algorithms, drug discovery, reconstruction of archaeological artifacts and many more. Nanotechnology is now making its way into the biological sphere, pioneering a symbiosis of human body, microorganisms, food and the built environment. A new world is being created; virtual reality, where there is a blurring of lines between the physical world and the virtual world. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is going to yield new products and services. Undoubtedly it is expected to raise standards of living and income levels globally. It will increase efficiency and productivity at the work place. Transportation and communication costs will drop dramatically, hence delivering huge dividends to the supply-chain, opening up new markets and driving economic growth. Work and leisure will look different. Those who stand to benefit the most are those societies that can gain access to and leverage digital technology.

It is feared by many though that this revolution could also create greater inequality and disrupt the labour market as machines increasingly take over from humans. This will imply that many jobs will cease to exist in the near future. A result of this is likely to be increases in social tensions with some segments having high skill/high paying jobs while other segments have low skill/low paying jobs. A disillusioned workforce with little confidence and fearful of the future could result with serious security implications. This could further deepen the  ‘winner takes all’ economy. History shows that with any innovation the beneficiaries are the innovators, investors, stakeholders and those who provide the intellectual content. This scenario will be replicated across countries and regions. Social media has made the world a smaller place, enabling cross cultural interactions and exchange of ideas. While this is to be welcomed, there is also the danger that it could help fuel social unrest as happened during the Arab spring. Its impact is expected to be wide ranging, on government, business, people, education, health, agriculture and many more.

Given the transformative nature of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, developing nations should be asking important questions about what they bring to the table and niches they can carve for themselves for material and political gain. African universities should be preparing to ask questions and to offer answers to questions that are already being asked in this regard.

The aim of International Conference Smart Generation Computing and Communication Networks (SGCCN) 2023 (SGCT ) 2023, is to bring together international expertise from academia, government, industry, as well as from civil society to deliberate on the issues and pave the way for nurturing and supporting  the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Africa. It will focus on how African universities can lead the way in the areas of teaching and research. How should universities prepare the student for the digital future? What research will support the production of goods and services in Africa in the new digital age? What relevant research will generate answers to questions about how to deal with the fall-out from the new revolution? For example what should drive regulation of human ingenuity and what kind of social charter should the world accept going forward, bringing into question the place of global organisations such as the UN in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

THEME AND CONFERENCE TRACKS
With the theme - Think forward and an eye towards the latest trends, solutions and ideas- The International E-Conference on Applications of Computing in Engineering, Sciences and Technology (SGCCN-2023) will explore new challenges and opportunities.