Commercialisation of innovations by youth entrepreneurs: focus on the Grassroots Innovation Programme and Technology Acquisition and Deployment Fund

Higher Education, Science and Innovation

25 November 2022
Chairperson: Ms N Mkhatshwa (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

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The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) briefed the Committee on two programmes – one was the Grassroots Innovation Programme which aims to support the needs of grassroots innovators and come up with innovations that are inclusive and can solve the main needs of the society. The performance of the programme is measured by performing a Feasibility Assessment, Product Testing, Piloting and investigating the Research and Development and Technology Development. Nine innovations were presented in the meeting, some falling under the arts, finance and energy.

The TADF Programme has been recognised and implemented globally by countries including India and Australia, and the demographic includes most non-youth, women, and blacks. There were nine innovations presented in the meeting, some falling under water and sanitation, security and communication. Successful applicants will be provided with a once off grant funding of up to R1 million for a maximum period of up to 24 months for the actual project execution. 

The Committee was mostly happy with the work that TIA had been doing, especially with the inclusion of disabled people in some of their innovations. Their concern, however, was on engagements with TVET Colleges and the involvement of innovators from provinces like the Northern Cape. Most innovators are from Gauteng, and it seemed like the Agency paid more attention to this province than others. There was also a question about the selection process of the innovators and the time it takes for applications to be approved. 

TIA is working on ways to expand to other provinces and deliver its material in the languages that the residents would understand to bring more clarity about who they are and what they can offer to innovators in those areas as they believe that the areas have potential.

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed all the attendees, the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and all the entities to present at the meeting.

Ms C King (DA), Ms D Sibiya (ANC), Minister Dr B Nzimande and Deputy Minister B Manamela sent their apologies due to other commitments.

Dr Mmboneni Muofhe, DDG: Technology Innovation, introduced the Technology Innovation   Agency (TIA) and DSI, and apologised for not bringing along the beneficiaries to the meeting; he promised that they would be brought along in future engagements.

He noted that the Agency needed to work on coordination with the government as provided by the Decadal Plan and that they have been engaging with stakeholders of projects. They are partnering with entities like the National Youth Development Agency to provide additional support to what they already provide to young people.

There is much more they are doing beyond the two programmes presented at this meeting and their goal as an agency is to empower the youth and take their initiatives to rural areas. 

Presentation on the Grassroots Innovation Programme
Dr Anitha Ramsuran, Acting GM: Inclusive Innovation, Youth and Skills (IIYS), TIA, said that the Grassroots Innovation Programme is a strategic intervention initiated by the DSI mainly to support the needs of grassroots innovators. The intervention has specific policy intents outlined in the White Paper on Science, Technology, and Innovation of 2019. The key intents are to support grassroots innovation, increase the focus on inclusivity and transformation, and enhance the innovation culture in society and government.  

Portfolio Performance
• Feasibility Assessment: 106 have been completed and eight have not been started
• Research and Development: 91 have been completed, 14 are in progress and one has not been started
• Technology Development: 35 have been completed and 58 are in progress
• Product Testing: 15 have been completed, seven are in progress and 13 have not been started
• Piloting: Six have been completed, three are in progress and six have not been started

Demographics
• Gender: 36 females and 103 males
• Race: 109 Africans, 14 Whites, 11 Indians and five Coloureds

Strategic Partners
• Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA)
•Department of Tourism
• Industrial Development Cooperation
• SAB Foundation
• UNDP
• Eskom
• DDM Initiatives

High Level Impact
138 projects were approved, the programme leveraged R20.3 million and raised R13.8 million, 40 innovation projects were developed, 18 companies were created, 15 products are in the market and 22 jobs were created in the 2021/2022 period.  

Innovations by Various People

SmartVein Transport Solution
Street Governor is a transport intelligence system designed to help stabilise the minibus taxi industry. This is achieved by providing a set of decision-support tools to various stakeholders that make the business of the taxi industry work. The system will narrow the trust deficit by improving transparency, accountability, and profitability.

Mpumalanga Art Exposure Online Store
An online art store that sells authentic handmade art crafts which are locally made by native people living adjacent to the parks. The crafts are influenced by the styles and cultures of our people, making them original and limited-edition art crafts.

Credit Peak/Builder
The first mobile wallet in South Africa that will help you build credit, earn rewards points and access greater financial inclusion. At the end of every month, Credit Peak totals all your purchases and payments and reports them to a registered credit bureau to build your credit score.

24/7 Printing Station
User-friendly and self-serviced print, photocopy, fax, email, scan, mobile typing, cloud storage and internet services paid via a virtual account, vouchers, or cash. To be accessible at nearest municipal offices, post offices, police stations, community centres, libraries, schools, and shopping centres.

ERS Tech
An end-to-end Business Intelligence (BI) driven Fleet Management Solution. This solution connects multiple Internet-of-Things enabled devices and sensors (including GPS tracking devices, fuel sensors, temperature sensors, on-board video cameras, and so on) to collect data of interest from vehicles, thereafter, the solution uses AI and Machine Learning algorithms to analyse data and produce actionable insights to inform decision making in real-time.

MO-Hand Hygiene Assistant
Mkazi Concepts (Pty) Ltd has developed the Sensani™ system, an intelligent hand sanitation station that acts as a preventative intervention against the spread of communicable diseases and infectious germs. It is a people management system for high foot traffic environments which grants employees and the public access to a building based on infection prevention, sanitation and public health and safety standards.

M-Temp
A Hospitality Staffing Chatbot platform that will be used by two types of users (1) the temporary work job seeker, and (2) hospitality business or enterprise clients. The Chatbot will be used for job seeker engagement, and collection of information and data, whilst the hospitality business or enterprise clients will use the website to post available work shifts based on their requirements.

Solar Window Blinds Made from Waste Solar Panels
LC Dynamics is a technology start-up aiming to improve access to clean alternative energy solutions. The first product is a mobile solar window blind which aims to make solar PV technology accessible for tenants and sectional title schemes where customers often lack the freedom, space or ownership of their properties to install a traditional solar energy system. We are also developing an online platform to help connect clients find the most suitable product.

Lerthoka Smart Panic Buttons
IoT service-based company that develops devices (smartwatches and tags) and systems (mobile apps and web-based apps) for GPS tracking and SOS panics. They do personal tracking and panics, animal tracking (game animals and pets) and asset tracking focused on logistics companies. They partner with private security companies and EMS for health and security emergency responses.

See presentation attached for further details

The TADF Presentation
Dr Ramsuran said that the DSI contracted TIA in 2018 as an instrument to facilitate the deployment and uptake of locally developed technologies by government to improve service delivery and support the commercialisation of these technologies. This instrument emanated following Cabinet’s decision in 2016 that there should be a dedicated procurement spend for locally developed technologies. Furthermore, the White Paper on Science and Technology supports an enabling innovation environment

International Benchmarks
• United States of America: The US SBIR is by far the most well-known programme and model for utilising government spend to stimulate technology development acquisition and deployment.

• Australia: The Government of Queensland in Australia also established the SBIR programmes, largely modelled around the UK programme. Its stated objective is to “fund the research and development on innovative solutions to specific Queensland Government challenges”.

• India: India’s Technology Acquisition and Development Fund launched in 2015 through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is by far the closest to TADF proposed in South Africa.

• United Kingdom: The UK’s SBRI programme aims to position government as a lead customer for technological innovation by means of a two-stage competitive process.

Funding Parameters
Successful applicants will be provided with a once-off grant funding of up to R1 million (including VAT) for a maximum period of up to 24 months for the actual project execution with the identified potential customers and end-user.

TDAF Deployment Data
• Youth Data:  Consists of 61% Non-youths and 39% Youths
• Black Owned Data: Consists of 83% Black Owned and 17% Non-Black Owned
• Women Owned Data:  Consists of 78% Men Owned and 22% Women Owned
• Deployment Province: Consists of 6% for each of Free State, North West and Limpopo: 29% Gauteng, 12% Western Cape, and 41% Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Innovations by Various People

Video Remote Interpreting (VRI)
Proudly South African Telecom Relay Service that remotely connects Deaf people to qualified Sign Language Interpreters in real-time, enabling them to communicate more effectively and gain equal access to information and services and thus increase accessibility to education, health, safety, and providing myriad social benefits.

Sisanda App Universe
Sisanda App Universe (SAU) is a virtual science laboratory that uses the power of cameras and real-time 3D content to allow you to experiment anywhere and anytime. Sisanda App Universe works with physically produced products namely SICU (Sisanda Cube) and SITEE (Sisanda T-shirt).

DSM Communicator
Aims to bring about digital inclusion, primarily focusing on the neglected township school community. DSM communicator considers the conditions our township schools operate under and the level of technology literacy of our system users. The key success will be simplicity; it is a communication tool built by South Africans for African conditions.

Ka-dah Device
A technology that assists visually impaired individuals to navigate and access the functions, controls, and apps of smartphones without the need to use the touch screen of smartphones: This involves wearable hardware, mobile application and creates a provision for any Bluetooth earpiece to connect with the phone at the same time.

Memeza Community Safety
Through Public Private partnerships, Memeza Shout aims enables community response models, strengthening communities impacted by SGBV, violence and crime with the ability to easily broadcast the need for assistance to local support networks such as SAPS/CPF and community members, enabling citizen-to-citizen policing.

Smart Water Tank
A water storage tank has been designed in a rectangular shape that is modular and sealed. This allows the tank to be installed in numerous layouts and positioned on any of the three sides. The sealed factor ensures the content stored within the tank cannot be contaminated by entry of any living/non-living matter.

Aqua Cura
The trailer or container-mounted mobile water sterilisation units are standalone, self-contained, and lockable units which are easy to operate and can be rapidly deployed, to provide clean, healthy drinking water to small communities. The sterilisation process is done through a patented advanced oxidation process.

Prev Leak
Innovative smart polymer manhole covers that are tech-fitted with IoT sensors to detect when sewage lines are blocked and report such anomalies using our plumber App and Municipal management system as soon as they occur. TPS also developed a progressive web app used by the public to report clean water leaks to promote ease of reporting and speed up service delivery.

Moonshine
A reflective paint in the form of a spray designed to make stray animals visible at night. The main objective is to reduce or at least avoid accidents caused by stray animals.

Low-Cost Geyser
Our low-cost solar water heater (LCSWH) offers numerous benefits to low-income households. The geyser is 100% South African, from design to manufacture and materials. It has a projected lifespan of over 30 years and is almost indestructible. It is easy to install, with no leaks or corrosion and is impact resistant. Tested to heat water to 56 degrees Celsius at sea level.

Mr Tshepang Mosiea, Director: Science and Technology for Sustainable Human Settlements, DSI, said that the two instruments are used to pilot an experiment and are used as models to create income and job opportunities. They are beginning to interrogate how they can create ways to sustain these models to expand and create more jobs for the citizens of the Republic.

Discussion
The Chairperson thanked t TIA for the presentation. She said that she wished the Agency brought the innovators to share their experience working with the Agency on their innovations and pleaded that they should be present in future meetings.

She said that the Grassroots Innovation Programme is exciting as it can play a role in reducing unemployment, inequality, and poverty. She asked the Agency how they deal with instances where there are people who have gone through the higher education system, particularly TVET College graduates, who have ideas and skills to innovate but lack funding. Geographic spread and special benefits are a weak point, especially in Gauteng where the population is dense: How can the population scale be increased in wider provinces like the Northern Cape so that these projects can be impactful nationally?

The Agency, in their presentation, said that innovations are related/limited to Information Technology, but one could argue that they have innovated something that would work in the agriculture sector. For example, she asked what innovation is, what purpose it should serve and how innovations are categorised. She asked for a spreadsheet that could explain how innovations are categorised.

Dr W Boshoff (FFP) acknowledged the presentations and asked if one of the mentioned programmes helps reduce the challenge of long lead time from when the innovator applies to them receiving their application results. How much more money does the Agency need to assist more innovators, as they look at the magnitude of the applications they have received and is there an active process of working with TVET Colleges and Universities of Technology? He said that students need to be interacted with as they are young, with fresh ideas of innovation, to have access to entrepreneurial and job opportunities.

Ms J Mananiso (ANC) acknowledged the presentations and the fact that most of the innovators are young and of the disadvantaged race.

She asked what partnership the Agency may have with institutions of higher education, which one of the enterprises they have supported has the potential to be “massified” domestically and that there is a need for projects that involve the ecosystem. What private sector relations exist to support the innovators, particularly those that enhance business performance to scale their operations? What is the monitoring mechanism used for beneficiaries, how do they track them and what demographics do they use to calculate them? Does the Agency have capacity to support more Grassroots Innovators and are they linked to any incubator or accelerator programmes?

Ms D Mahlatsi (ANC) acknowledged the presentations and thanked the Department for the disability project that addresses the innovation around interpretation of devices that would help disabled people with public services such as Home Affairs and police stations. She asked how the recruitment of innovators was done and if it is possible for the Agency to identify critical needs for innovators to work on them as they are recruited and for investors to invest in projects that solve critical problems to enhance service delivery. She advised the Agency to start using this method if they have not considered it to avoid wasting resources on projects that are not of a need by the public.

Are innovations that are not necessarily service delivery driven able to assist with the methods of marketing for service delivery driven innovations from ordinary South Africans? There is slow marketing and sales for service delivery innovations and new ways to get those products sold need to be implemented. What is the role of the private sector in injecting financial resources into the activities and are the innovations brought forth to the Committee able to reach the global market?  


Response by TIA
Dr Ramsuran thanked the Committee Members for the questions and addressed the question of exclusion of TVET College students by saying that they are not excluded; students who are excluded are those who work as part of the research programme because they are then a part of a formal innovation group. There is a recruitment strategy of roadshows used to recruit TVET students where the innovation process would be explained on the ground, tangible plans to support underserved provinces exist and the Agency logged a call for citizens to apply for support, but a lot of applicants were still from Gauteng. When classifying projects, they look at their dominating factors then classify them as innovations of those factors; they will share the spreadsheet explaining this further.  

They are planning more roadshows to the underserved provinces in different languages to bring innovators together to take them through the processes. It is much easier for innovators to send through applications, assessments are done monthly and therefore lead time is four weeks from the time of application to its approval. The current delivery model is centralised, there is still a demand for innovators, and they should shift their model to be able to cope with taking in more innovators and making sure that they are all served. There are engagements made with TVET and University students, they are currently busy with the Living Labs Programme with the students and one of the Living Labs is situated at a TVET College.

Through its relationship with universities, TIA can “massify” and support its programmes. For now, the only entity from the private sector that has been able to help with funding is the SAB Foundation but there could be more engagement from the private sector. There are monitoring and evaluations for innovators to assess the technologies involved and they are more than happy to explain the demographics in writing. Once the innovators have developed their technologies, they are incubated in the private and private incubators available. Currently, the funding for programmes focuses on funding technology developments and there is a need to provide support for piloting, demonstration, and active marketing of projects to global markets.

Mr Mosiea said that they had started a work stream called the GIP Enterprise that will focus on how the private sector can be more involved by bringing equity and additional investments to support commercialisation of projects. He said that they are already thinking about “massifying” the existing projects in the Northern Cape, and they are learning that they should bring GIP as part of the DDM interventions in the Northern Cape. The Agency is consulting with other departments, such as Small Business Development, to seek ways to combine and offer a combined package of interventions.

They have also consulted universities and science councils for access to IPs on their shelves, which have the potential to be market products. They are engaging with innovators who might be interested in taking those IPs forward. In the past year, there was an investment allocation for Mode 1. In the coming year, there will be an investment allocation for Mode Four to enable government departments to have technologies to solve their challenges.

Dr Muofhe said that one of the biggest challenges is the ecosystem, as it is much better in Gauteng. Connectivity and access are much better in Gauteng compared to other provinces; hence a lot of innovators are from there and the Agency made a presentation requesting that they could have SMS members deployed in various municipalities to ensure that they could expand some of the Agency’s initiatives that are in support of the DDM model. Students involved in the research projects and planning to commercialise them are already within the ecosystem and are already cut out from being beneficiaries of the programme. The Agency is excited that some projects are attracting engagements outside the national borders and expansion and growth can be expected. In July this year, a programme that would grow job opportunities and entrepreneurship for youth nationally and globally was launched.

The Chairperson requested that the adoption of minutes be deferred to the following week after Members have carefully gone through them. She announced that there would be a physical meeting on Wednesday of the following week with NFAS and VUT at Marks Building. She thanked all the attendees.

The meeting was adjourned.
 

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