In Finnish, SiLLMU* means “bud” (as in flower bud). To us it is the Siyakhula Living Lab Management Unit. This is a newly formed organisation set up to provide leadership in matters pertaining to the Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL). The current infrastructure setup between Dwesa, Nqabara and Nkwalini in the Mbashe province of the Eastern Cape is a valuable rural entrepreneurial incubator based on commitment from the communities and the partners working in the living lab. It is a collection of some of the basic information services required to bring rural areas into the knowledge society and a worthy platform to try out new products and techniques. The communities are not apathetic and jaded through research efforts, because of a continuing and paced strategic intervention which works as much with the consciousness of the people as with technology.
The SiLLMU has received funding for one year from COFISA (Finnish South African Cooperation Framework on Innovation in South Africa), and will shortly open its doors to connect the SLL and open it to new possibilities.
Part of the SiLLMU funding will go directly to strengthening community involvement in the SLL. This is a welcome direct assistance for the community members that are spending their time and effort in the project and making things happen.
[* 09-05-25] I have in the meantime been using Google Translate Finnish >> English, and it is great. In Finnish “Silmu” is written with one “L”, which I guess sounds the same. It also means “eye”. Now I wonder if that is specifically the eye of a potato, for instance, or whether it is also the organ of vision. SiLLMU is definitely tasked as an organ of vision for the SLL!