Filed under Innovation and ICT Entrepreneurship, Uncategorized by Kerryn on 1 March, 2012 at 1:49 pm
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The “My Meraka Innovation Handbook” is a fantastic, interactive document that promises to take you on a journey of discovery and actualisation of the process of innovation. And it’s now available for download here.
The handbook provides both byte-sized info blurbs and passages on thought-provoking topics such as “Innovator vs Inventor”, “How to be an elegant thinker” and “The joy of inventing”. These are found alongside valuable and easy-to-understand explanations on topics such as patents, technology transfer, and open source guidelines. Also included are topics that specifically relate to the CSIR’s innovation process.
The handbook is part of Meraka’s Technology Transfer project which sought to build capacity within the CSIR Meraka Institute around intellectual property (IP) and technology transfer issues. The project, managed by Nicki Koorbanally who is the R&D Outcomes Manager responsible for both IP and technology transfer issues at the CSIR Meraka Institute, was supported by SAFIPA. As Nicki explained at SAFIPA’s conference at the end of last year, the project has explored the idea of translating intellectual assets into impact: “Technology transfer and commercialisation should not be discussed at the end of R&D projects; rather, these concepts must be considered throughout the entire process.” She adds, “Innovation is an every day task rather than a mysterious, genius type intervention! We need to think of innovators as real people.”
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Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity by Kerryn on 18 July, 2011 at 11:11 am
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Volunteer students play some of the interactive games during a train-the-trainer workshop.
The University of Venda, in partnership with the CSIR, and supported by SAFIPA, is currently conducting a research and implementation project that seeks to educate a local community in cyber security and awareness.
The background to this project – at both the global and community level – is explained by Dr Zaaiman, who is the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Operations, at the University of Venda (UNIVEN). Zaaiman says, “Cyber space is a complex environment that can advance an individual’s experience of electronic-dependent activities, but can also place these individuals in a vulnerable state. For the average person, cyber space is a means to communicate, connect on social networking sites, perform financial transactions, search for information, and a platform for entertainment. However, for those who do not specialise in cyber security – which is most of us – cyber space poses inherent dangers that can literally rob cyber space users from both their identity and their money.” Zaaiman goes on to explain that in many ways, the internet and cyber world can be a perilous place where innocent users can inadvertently fall prey to shrewd cyber criminals. Thus, the CSIR and the University of Venda are collaborating on an initiative that seeks to raise cyber security awareness in local rural communities. The project is aimed at a pilot community, Thohoyandou, within the Limpopo Province, in the Vhembe District.
Filed under SAFIPA capacity building by Kerryn on 18 July, 2011 at 10:07 am
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Brainstorming during the Leading Expert Organisations workshop.
The component of institutional capacity development has included such activities as value-added instruction, the training of trainers, activities with multiplier effects, and networking opportunities. The SAFIPA team has approached the goal of capacity building with both creativity and an aptitude for understanding what makes skills-transfer successful.
As such, over the duration of the SAFIPA programme, a number of exciting initiatives and activities have been made available to both project partners and stakeholders concerned with developing and implementing innovative ICT solutions for local communities. These activities have ranged from a personal mentorship engagement programme, to knowledge exchange trips to Finland for a group of South Africans, with the intention of enabling the sharing and transfer of knowledge; to workshops with Finnish knowledge experts, and train-the-trainer sessions utilising inventive methodologies designed to unlock people and organisational potential.
Mentorship engagement nurtures innovative solutions for a local ICT incubator
During 2009, Leonie Greyling, who at the time was the newly appointed CEO to Softstart BTI, took part in a SAFIPA mentoring engagement programme. This was an intensive, one-on-one programme with SAFIPA’s Kristiina Lähde that lasted for a full year. Leonie says, “The relationship with Kristiina Lähde was established with the intention of her providing me with support in my new role as CEO of the Incubator.” Softstart BTI is an ICT business and technology incubator that supports early-stage businesses, focussing in particular on the incubation of young IT graduates, professionals and previously disadvantaged groups. The focus is on encouraging entrepreneurship amongst these groups. As a function of her new appointment, Leonie was required to look at the issues of sustainability and relevance for the incubator. Meeting every month to six-weeks for a two-hour discussion session, Kristiina guided Leonie through an analysis of these issues, by highlighting Finnish incubators with similar objectives, and exploring the various sustainability measures and best-practices that these entities employ.
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This is the final edition of the SAFIPA newsletter. The month of November 2011, marks the conclusion of this dynamic initiative.
