Dr Chris Nhlapo Deputy Vice Chancellor

Research Technology-Innovation and

Partnerships

The Value of University and Business Collaboration

THE ROLE OF CHEC

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Facilitating inter-institutional

collaboration

Calico – Joint Library Information System

Promote collaboration, co-operation & partnerships amongst member universities:

Sharing of expensive research equipment

Regional staff training programmes

Regional Graduate Destination Survey

Communities of practice, such as TTOs

THE ROLE OF CHEC

Facilitating external

partnerships

Formal collaboration agreements with the Western Cape Government & City of Cape Town

Promote collaboration, co-operation & partnerships with external constituencies:

Strengthening knowledge partnerships for regional development, through, for example:

Joint research programmes addressing shared priorities in areas such as:

Climate change and sustainability

Digital innovation Social inclusion

THE ROLE OF CHEC

KEY CRITICALPOINTS

It is All about the Western

Cape Economic

Development – RIS

System-Wide Review

National System of Innovation

Traditional Role of Higher Education

i. In general, South African Higher Education Institutions(HEIs), has operated around three key pillars viz.Teaching, Research and Community Engagement.

ii. One of the key indicators of the health of a university isits research output. Academic researchers have beenspurred on over the years by a “publish or perish”imperative.

iii. Consequently the balance of forces, from a researcheffort perspective, has generally been inequitably skewedtowards the goal of publishing, with less effort toward thegoal of ensuring the uptake of research output.

National Development Plan 2030: A compass for sustainable growth

Three main functions of universities: First, universities educate and provide people with high-level skills for the labour

market. Second, they are the dominant producers of new knowledge, they assess and

find new applications for existing knowledge, and they validate knowledge and values through their curricula.

Third, they provide opportunities for social mobility and strengthen social justice and democracy, thus helping to overcome the inequities inherited from our apartheid past.

Convergence of HEIs mandate and the Human Resource Development Strategy for South Africa

HRDS COMMITMENT SIX

“We will improve the technological and innovation capability and

outcomes within the public and private sectors to enhance our competitiveness in the global

economy and to meet our human development priorities.”

HEI’s RTI TRAJECTORY

The higher education sector AND business

have a joint responsibility to drive the

knowledge economy in SA

Stages of Industrial and Economic Development

The Status Quo Cannot Prevail

i. Over recent years the parameters related to the practice of research amongst HEIs has widened.

ii. The National Development Plan of South Africa is critical of the Higher Education System for its “poor knowledge production that often does not translate into innovation”.

South Africa. South Africa-National Development Plan: Vision for 2030. The Presidency, 11 November 2011: 271.

SANSI: THE CONCEPT &

APPROACH

Definitions of NIS

i. “The elements and relationships which interact in the production, diffusion

and use of new, and economically useful, knowledge… and are either

located within or rooted inside the borders of a nation state” (Lundvall,

1992; p.12)

ii. “A set of institutions whose interactions determine the innovative

performance of national firms” (Nelson, Rosenberg, 1993; p.5)

iii. “The national institutions, their incentive structures and their

competencies, that determine the rate and direction of technological

learning (or the volume and composition of change-generating activities) in

a country” (Patel and Pavitt, 1994; p.12)

The Concept……

i. Business does not stand alone, government and

universities are integral part of innovation system

ii. Research and development (R&D) is investment

spent both to develop new ideas and science and to

transform them into commercial innovations

Systemic approach to innovation

According to Ingelstam (2002):

1. a system consists of two kinds of constituents: there are firstly, some kinds of

components and secondly, there are relations among them. The components

and relations should form a coherent whole (which has properties different

from the properties of the constituents);

2. the system has a function – that is, it is performing or achieving something;

3. it must be possible to discriminate between the system and the

rest of the world; that is, it must be possible to identify the

boundaries of the system. If we, for example, want to make

empirical studies of specific systems, we must, of course, know

their extension.

EXEMPLARS………

Borne out of a strong need

from the wind and solar

industry for specialist skills

not available in South Africa

COURSES OFFERED

Wind Turbine Service Technicians

(WTST) for wind farms (privately

owned)

Solar PV Technicians for solar

farms (privately owned)

Vestas

Nordex

Siemens

Enercon

General

Electric

Acciona

PRIMARY CUSTOMERS FOR TRAINING

CREATION OF SARETEC

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH BZEE

BZEE – Training Centres for

Renewable EnergyNon-profit organisation set

up by German Wind Energy

Association, Chamber of

Industry and Commerce and

wind energy companies

±100

members

GLOBAL TRAINING STANDARDS/ WORLDWIDE

RECOGNITION

Most

comprehensive wind

technician training

programme

Focus on learning

outcomes

Certified and audited

standards

Written to ISO

requirement (ISO

9000 high level

structure)

PRIVATE SECTOR

SUPPORT

GIZ

Nordex

DCD

Hansa Flex

Scancon

Garacon

Deutse Windtechnik

German Cooperation(Deutse

Zusammenarbeit)

Reetec

Hytorc

South African Photovoltaic Association

South African Wind Energy Association

OTHER INVOLVEMENT

MerSETA pilot

began in February

with 90% of the

class from private

sector

Assisting South

African Photo

Voltaic Industry

Association in

putting in place

standards for the

PV industry

Driving skills

development

working group

within the South

African Wind

Energy Industry

Association

Exploring partnerships

with private sector

solar PV short course

providers like Max

Solar Academy (Pty)

Ltd, MSC Artisan

Academy (Pty) Ltd and

DSG Solar Berlin

GmbH

Putting in place

bursary schemes

with private sector

funding from

Acciona SA (Pty)

Ltd and Globeleq

SA (Pty) Ltd

OUR GOAL

To be the

preferred training

provider for all

OEM’s and Wind

Farm owners

operating in South

Africa

TECHNOLOGY STATIONS

Agrifood Technology Station

Clothing and Textiles Technology Station

TIA Adaptronics Manufacturing Technology Laboratory

CELEBRATINGA DECADE OFRESEARCH EXCELLENCE