UP embraces high-tech
TUKSNOVATION: POSITIONS VARSITY AS AN ENTREPRENEURIAL INSTITUTION
Social application Mingle among three startups to benefit from new incubator.
AUniversity of Pretoria (UP) student is set to reap benefits worth thousands of rand, as part of the university’s launch of a new high-tech incubator, aimed at the development of entrepreneurial skills.
Engineering student Targo Dove started a company, Mingle, with his business partner two years ago as a student.
Dove said when they saw the advert on Twitter that the university was running a competition for entrepreneurs, which would then lead to entry into a business incubator called TuksNovation, that would assist in boosting the development of their business, they wasted no time applying for it. After competing with about 100 other businesses, they are now among the top three teams stand to benefit greatly.
He said Mingle, a social application, would usually cost thousands of rand to build from the ground, and the fact that it’s not making a profit right now, the incubator would not only help with providing the necessary resources to develop the application but will also provide them with the adequate skills to pitch Mingle to prominent investors.
Anea Burke le Roux, centre manager for TuksNovation, said the nonprofit organisation was positioning the university as an entrepreneurial institution through its partnerships with the departments of small business and trade and industry through its Small Enterprise Development Agency.
Le Roux said: “As a high-tech business incubator, TuksNovation fosters innovation by providing specialised product and business development support to tech startups. “By identifying and supporting promising early-stage innovations, TuksNovation lowers the risk of the technology development and commercialisation stages for both the inventors as well as investors.” She said the incubator was supported by the university’s business school, the Gordon Institute of Business Science; its department of business management; EBIT’s graduate school of tech- nology management; the university’s technology transfer office; as well as industry mentors and panelists.
The entrepreneurs are expected to go through a 12-month virtual incubation programme; a fourmonth business launch bootcamp that helps in preparing for startups business launch; and an acceleration programme that helps to grow new businesses.
UP Vice-Chancellor Cheryl de la Rey, said: “We’ve ramped up our efforts to implement innovative strategies to leverage and commercialise homegrown technologies in order to create sustainable new enterprises and subsequently job opportunities.
“We realise that by developing and commercialising research and development projects within academic institutions and by creating new spinoff companies, universities can contribute to job creation and economic development.”