CoachLab™ helps postgraduates hone their business skills

Hub CEO Dr Neville Comins handing over a CoachLab partner certificate to Mr Barron Cox of Cisco. Class of 2005 at their graduation event, ltr (back row) Gerrit Geertsema, Theverson Kanavathy, Rendani Ramuthaga, Bevan Bates, George Mathai, Boitumelo Sebego, (middle row) Peter Chiang, Mary Mammen, Thsepo Motsei, Sphiwe Skosana, Tebogo Kgonyane, (front) Partick Nyelisani and Dcihaba Kotu-Rammopo. Hats off! and the graduates are ready to tackle the world!

Thirteen postgraduate candidates participating in The Innovation Hub's unique CoachLab™ Leadership Programme unveiled innovative solutions to real-time ICT projects at a graduation ceremony held at the Hub's Conference Venue in November this year.

The technologies developed include remote visitor authentication displayed on an IP phone, a next generation messaging prototype which is hailed as being at the forefront of integration technology and UMTS repeater placement software that resolves Pilot Pollution Interference (PPI), one of the significant challenges for mobile network designers.

Now in its fifth year of operation, the CoachLab™ is run as a partnership between The Innovation Hub, tertiary education and industry partners to develop world-class human capital for the applied science and technology industry. The partners, respectively, provide the infrastructure and entrepreneurial environment, postgraduate candidates and technical expertise, and project work, mentorship, supervision and sponsorship.

The success of this initiative has led to its expansion this year to include additional partners as co-sponsors and mentors and embrace communications as an additional theme. Partners and project sponsors for 2005 included EPI-USE, Cisco Systems, Vodacom and the University of Pretoria and Tshwane University of Technology. MTN recently announced that it will become a sponsor from 2006 onwards.

Danie Behr, managing director of EPI-USE Systems, one of the original partners with the University of Pretoria, said that the 2005 CoachLab™ candidates have shown particular commitment in the transition from the academic to the business world. "They used the opportunity well to translate academic knowledge into business skills and clearly demonstrated business leadership initiatives during the period. The programme provided EPI-USE and the other industry partners with adequate exposure to assist the students with informed career decisions."

This was endorsed by Barron Cox, senior director of human resources and corporate social responsibility at Cisco Systems, saying that "Cisco is proud to be associated with this initiative and we know that we'll be able to benefit from some of the technologies that the graduates have developed."

"We believe that education and the Internet are the two great equalisers in life. Nowhere does this become more apparent than in the CoachLab™. Here, young innovators are able to learn and create solutions that can be used commercially and thus add value to business processes," he added.

Since inception as a pilot project in 2001, the programme has honed the business skills of 38 postgraduates to prepare them for entry into the business world as active, skilled workers. Prof Jan Eloff of the University of Pretoria said that their involvement is providing the Department Computer Science with "unique industry collaboration opportunities that expose our students to successful high-tech companies and enables them to continue their postgraduate studies on a full time basis. It is a mutually beneficial situation for industry as well as academia."

Dr Jannie Zaaiman, Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communications at the Tshwane University of Technology concurred. "We are proud to be associated with the CoachLab™ at The Innovation Hub. Our students excel and the programme has given them a solid and comprehensive foundation about the demands of the world of work. This initiative is becoming well known amongst our students as something to aspire to," he said.

The candidates are exposed to a hands-on entrepreneurial learning environment where they work on real-time projects to gain valuable practical experience. The focus is on integrating technical knowledge, leadership and practical skills. Within a year candidates can mature into new economy innovators - able to take initiative, work in a team, apply knowledge and solve problems.

"This has been a learning experience not only for the students but for us as well. Particular mention must be made of the Engineering students who applied themselves to the challenging projects set for them by Vodacom's Engineering Department," according to Vodacom's Colin Davis.

The CoachLab™ is closely associated with the maxum Business Incubator at The Innovation Hub, where candidates interact with entrepreneurs who are establishing high-tech companies in the Incubator. "In this way, the candidates are exposed to the realities of start-ups and can experience, first-hand, the entrepreneurial spirit required to succeed in a fast moving business environment", says maxum Manager, Jill Sawers.

Involvement in the programme provides companies with a "fresh look" at service and product development while doing due diligence on possible future employees and gaining access to fresh, innovative ideas. Universities benefit from enhanced relationships with industry and from practical exposure to industry projects.

"The partnerships epitomise a growing collaboration between industry and academic institutions, as well as between companies in the high-tech sector and between the universities that provide the firepower", says Sawers.

Some of the technologies unveiled by the candidates include:

• The Cisco DigiDoor enables a user or company receptionist to remotely authenticate a visitor outside a door through live webcam images displayed on the reception IP phone, using the company's current data network infrastructure.
• The unique Cisco Next Generation Messaging enables the transmission of SMS messages from a mobile phone to a IP phone and vice versa, integrating the IP phone world and the mobile telephone world - a prototype at the forefront of integration technology.
• The EPI-USE on-line booking and evaluation system, a 'one-stop' training course administration tool, has already been implemented at the company. It uses a simple web-based interface that allows students to utilise the Internet to view the company's upcoming courses, discuss it with other students, and register.
• The Vodacom UMTS repeater placement that resolves Pilot Pollution Interference (PPI), one of the significant challenges for mobile network designers. The software analyses and develops methodology to optimise the placement of UMTS repeaters so that the mobile network transceivers are positioned in a way that prohibits signal interference.

The other projects that the candidates worked on during the past year included the Cisco Events Rater and CoachLab Team Tracker, the EPI-USE North Face SA human resource management system, and the Vodacom Remote EMF monitor, Idea Registration System, Database Comparison and Field Operation Interface Software.

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