This is what the Durban University of Technology's annual Arts and Design Digital Festival is about - pushing staff and students to evolve their creative processes and presentations to the level of their peers worldwide.
The festival, known as Digifest, is in its third year. René Smith, the university's dean of arts and design, said its main aim in its first year - in 2014 - was to stimulate an increase in the amount of creative digital content coming from the institution.
When it first started, the festival was a collaborative platform challenging, for example, fashion design students to work with their graphic design fellows; video arts students combining their skills with those of journalism students.
It also featured film, live blogging and the use of QR codes to link the real-world experience to cyberspace.
This year the festival featured a more comprehensive programme of events across three floors of DUT's city campus over two days.
Workshops on 3D printing, animated and poetic short films, digital gaming, design exhibitions, photographic essays and other events merging virtual and tangible realities were some highlights from the more than 30-item schedule of events.
"Our students are the new generation. They are the generation that will lead our country forward. We must actively invest in them, in their dreams and in their creativity," said Smith.
Digifest has played a role in securing Durban's bid to host the International Symposium on Electronic Art in 2018.
The symposium celebrates the development of the electronic arts.
"When one of the ISEA2018 founders visited last year, it was encouraging that he saw the potential in this festival."
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