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Pub@Hub, as held on 4 March, kicks off with our host; Business Development, Marketing, and Value-added Services Manager, Mr. Paul Bisogno, announcing that The Innovation Hub and The Institute of Aviation Medicine will sign a Memorandum of Agreement on Friday 6 March 2009.
Next, Annemie Fourie, one of the over twenty blue label members present on the night, introduces her award winning product “Handle Hands” along with a talk on the difficulties associated with the process of taking ones innovation from concept, to commercialisation, to success. “The product should be your cream, not your bread and butter” is but one of the valuable lessons Annemie has learnt on her journey which has now earned her the DISA South African Design Excellence Award for Innovation and Sustainability.
Jeanette Morwane, Manager of ACTIVATOR™, kicked off her presentation with a quirky animated show reel created by resident tenant company Etiket. Jeanette merely expanded on this message by explaining that “the ACTIVATOR Programme seeks to encourage Triple Helix Collaboration - collaboration between learning and research institutions, government, and industry - in order to ultimately promote a spin off effect that aims to increase the number of SME’s operating in industry, while giving impetus to job creation, new products and services, an increased number of relative participants, and an increase in revenue.” The ACTIVATOR Programme seeks to identify specific projects that fit the required criteria including a consortia existing of certain collaborative role-players. The programme is a joint venture between The Innovation Hub and COFISA (Cooperation Framework on Innovation Systems between Finland and South Africa). “Innovation through Collaboration” indeed!
Lastly, Winstone Jordaan presented a broad introduction to a Hydrogen Economy that took guests through the history, terminology, existing criticism and, ultimately, the advantages and real possibilities of Fuel Cell Technology as Renewable Energy source of the future. Winstone is a member of the Advanced Energy Foundation and, as founder of Innovative People Zone, is set to join the Maxum Business Incubator in April 2009. Mr. Jordaan is passionate about innovative projects involving solar energy and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Distributorship. He is committed to promote Science and Technology with a special interest in Energy and Transportation and is known for his presentations at schools and businesses alike. “Renewable energy is the way of the future and even thought the idea around a hydrogen car dates back to 1807, the time for aggressive development, transition, expansion and commercialization of this renewable source is now!” says this Solar Race enthusiast and entrepreneur.
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