Programme Director,

Ms. Phindile Mbanjwa: HOD of  the Gauteng Department of Economic Development

Mr Boy Ngobeni, HOD for Gauteng e-Government Department

Members of GGDA and TIHMC Board

Mr McLean Sibanda: CEO of The Innovation Hub

Distinguished Guests

Members of the media

Ladies and gentlemen, It is a great honour for me to be standing in front of you at this prestigious event as we come together to honour the innovators who have developed technologically innovative solutions to improve service delivery in the private and public sectors. I want to commend you for taking a step in developing your ideas that will assist in transforming the Gauteng economy.  Allow me to also welcome our international guests to our province and South Africa.

Programme Director

Whilst innovation is identified as a key driver for economic growth and productivity, the capacity to innovate remains low in most African countries. Globalisation of technology, however, presents new opportunities for developing countries, but deliberate efforts, especially by government, are required to promote innovation. It is with that in mind that we as a province established the GAP Innovation Competitions to recognise and reward innovative ideas which have the potential to significantly impact the Gauteng economy. We need more technological innovations to drive and stimulate socio-economic development in the province. It is through innovation that we are able to find better and more efficient ways to improve service delivery, particularly looking at things such as infrastructure, hospitals, transport and community safety, thus improving our competitiveness as a province.

The Global Innovation Competitiveness Report for the year 2015/16 shows that South Africa rose from 53rd place in 2015 to 52nd in 2016 in the innovation index. It is through competitions such as the Gauteng Accelerator Programme (GAP) that we, as the Gauteng Provincial Government are able to position Gauteng as the key driver of innovation in strategic sectors. Supporting the finalists gathered here today therefore becomes critical as part of our continued support for entrepreneurs in key sectors in order to build our economy.

In their fifth year of running, the GAP innovation competitions have attracted more than 750 entries across South Africa with R2.8 million in seed-funding and incubation services awarded to the top winners in each category, namely ICT, Medical, Biosciences and the Green economy.  The GAP Innovation competition is one of the initiatives proposed in the Gauteng Innovation Strategy to stimulate interest in innovation within targeted sectors and to improve service delivery by local and provincial government.

Programme Director

 We would like to thank the Technology Innovation Agency and Emory University for their contribution to the lives of innovators and entrepreneurs in the Biosciences. We would like to urge other stakeholders to follow suit in order to assist GAP innovation competitions contribute to the growth of The Innovation Hub’s incubation programmes by serving as a pipeline for potential incubatees at The Innovation Hub’s Maxum business incubator, Climate Innovation Centre, mLab, the Biopark@Gauteng and eKasiLabs Programme, a new category which was introduced this year aimed at identifying and nurturing township based innovations in line with the Gauteng Township Economy Revitalisation strategy.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you will be able to join us tomorrow as we officially launch the eKasiLab Soweto facility at the Soweto Empowerment Zone in Diepkloof.  EKasiLabs are business incubation programmes that provide support services for township entrepreneurs and are used as a vehicle to promote the culture of Innovation and entrepreneurship in the township. 

As a province, we cannot achieve our innovation goals by working in isolation. We need to collaborate with the private sector, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to increase our output of ideas and innovation. The only way to build and increase the state of innovation in South Africa is through partnership between the public sector, private sector, research & development institutions as well as academic institutions.  In this regard, we want to urge all sectors to come on board and assist us to move Gauteng City region forward.

Distinguished guests

We are excited about the concepts that have been developed by our finalists because South Africa needs advancement in the smart industries; we need to make advancements in biotechnology, renewable energy and the green economy. We are proud that the innovations being celebrated here will contribute to the growth of these sectors.

The calibre and quality of entries into the competitions demonstrates that there is immense capacity and capability in our society. This is very encouraging and it is our wish that these innovations will get the opportunity to be taken from the ideation stage to proper commercialisation.

The winning teams in the biosciences, ICT, green and medical categories, selected here today, will receive cash prizes, seed funding and free incubation at The Innovation Hub and eKasilabs programme in the townships. The winning teams in the Biotech Fundi Awards will receive cash prizes to advance their activities in respective categories.

Programme Director

I wish to congratulate all the winners of the GAP Innovation Competitions Awards. In closing,   allow me to once again thank our partners, the Technology Innovation Agency, mLab, and Emory University for their contribution and support in making sure that the GAP competitions programme becomes a success.  I would also like to thank our mentors, assessors and adjudicators who are present here this evening for their hard work in assessing and adjudicating the submissions efficiently to make sure that all processes are transparent and fair. I thank you.