Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Necessity often summons the power of innovation
Displays at this year’s Innovation Summit show SA smarts
WHEN Joshua Nghaamwa travelled to a rural village in Namibia to visit his family, he found he couldn’t use his cellphone due to poor reception.
He needed a reliable connection to the internet to complete some university assignments.
But rather than complain, he set about building a portable device that boosts the strength of cellular network signals, and improves internet speed. It worked. His prototype, called the Master Terminator, is one of the inventions on show at the South African Innovation Summit which ends at the Cape Town Stadium today.
The summit, which kicked off earlier this week, brings together inventors and innovators from Africa and abroad.
It also includes a series of lectures by guest speakers, and a number of “pitching den” sessions, where inventors get to solicit funding for their ideas.
Nghaamwa is exhibiting his prototype at the Technology Innovation Agency Inventors Garage.
He hopes it will pique the interest of funders, who will allow him to take the concept further. “As Africans, we need to create more products ourselves, and not rely on technology from overseas,” he said.
His “smart dish” which he patented in 2012, is made largely from tin foil. It comes with built-in 4G connectivity and a battery, which a user can use to charge a laptop, too. It also includes a solar charger.
Nghaamwa said the device’s ability to boost the strength of cellphone signals meant it would be useful in rural areas where digital communication infrastructure was still poor.
Among the other inventors in the garage is Grethe Stark, who has created and patented material made from bamboo that can be used to create prosthetic limbs.
Stark, who has created prostheses in private and government sectors, said the material could be used to make a prosthetic “socket”, the part of an artificial limb that fits over a residual limb and attaches to the artificial foot or hand.
Stark said all sockets made in state hospitals were constructed out of fibreglass, finished with an acrylic resin. While fibreglass was hardy and relatively cheap, the residue that it gave off during construction of an artificial limb could be harmful.
“Your skin, and eyes and lungs all get irritated from the fibreglass dust.”
She said sockets created from bamboo did not cause such irritation, and were as resilient as those made from fibreglass. Stark created a bamboo socket for a young patient, who said it worked well.
The winning invention will be announced today at 2pm.
Other events include workshops where youngsters will be able to build robots out of Lego and an hour-long innovation bootcamp at 11am and 2pm. The summit ends today.
● Tickets are R50 for adults. Under 12s enter free. Doors open at 10am and close at 6pm. Buy tickets online at www. quicket. co. za or at the door. See ww. marketon theedge.com