Helping ‘Unleash’ UCT’s human potential

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Futures Think Tank hackathon on 10 July will kickstart a process to help the institution “Unleash” its human potential and begin a co-creation journey with the community beyond the campus.

The Think Tank was established last year by Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, under the leadership of Professor Alison Lewis, dean of the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment, with a view to helping the institution remain relevant far into the future.

The 10 July event will introduce the “Unleash” concept to the university and beyond, and aims to engender excitement around the generation of ideas that will effectively help realise the university’s full potential.

“What we have right now is a vision of unleashing human potential, really, and the purpose of that being for a just and fair society. To achieve that we must think outside the box, which means we can’t be locking ourselves into only looking at people who are within the university,” Lewis said.

The hackathon will involve those who signed up to participate in the Think Tank, who include students and members of the community beyond UCT.

“What we're going to be asking is: What does ‘Unleash’ mean for you? Whether you are a student, whether you're an academic, PASS staff or an alum or somebody from outside UCT, what is real unleashing of human potential at UCT? What does that look like to you?” Lewis explained.

“And we're hoping to generate some excitement, some ideas and some direction for us to really start implementing in the future.”

Phakeng described the initiative as “exciting”.

“The future is here. We cannot wait for it anymore. It's with us, so itʼs now how we embrace it,” she said.