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The CIO Forum evolved as an informal social network of academics and information systems (IS) professionals in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It was started by individuals who were passionate about bridging the gap between academia and commercial industry. As academics and professionals, they felt the need to bring influential stakeholders such as those serving as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of corporate enterprise and academics teaching in universities to discuss a variety of important topics. They began dealing with the lack of skills in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and reviewing the disparate views on internship and graduate programs hel...

The CIO Forum evolved as an informal social network of academics and information systems (IS) professionals in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It was started by individuals who were passionate about bridging the gap between academia and commercial industry. As academics and professionals, they felt the need to bring influential stakeholders such as those serving as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of corporate enterprise and academics teaching in universities to discuss a variety of important topics. They began dealing with the lack of skills in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and reviewing the disparate views on internship and graduate programs held by corporate employers and academia.
In 2009, the CIO Forum is looking to grow as a South African social network with a view to broadening out into the African continent. Last year in 2008, we launched the CIO Academic Breakfast Forum sponsored by the Simeka Business Solutions Group and co-hosted by the Department of Information Systems of the Faculty of Economic and Management Science (EMS) at UWC and the School of Information and Design at CPUT. Academics from the Department of Information Systems at UCT and Social Informatics at SU have also joined and hosted these monthly breakfast forums. ICT industry role players such as Microsoft, Oracle and SAP have supported the forum and a number of influential stakeholders from government have presented and participated in our discussions.
The format of the breakfast forum is a conversation modelled on the concept of Cafe Conversations - visit The World Cafe. The opening topic of the forum was "ICT Skills Development - the Role of Universities and Employers". In discussions with academics and CIOs it was evident that there was support for such an event and more importantly that on-going conversations between these important role players needed to take place.