Local entrepreneur, Marlize Holtzhauzen, walked away with top honours for her mobile app for emergency situations during this year's Googlefest Zurich pitching competition; the app activates the emergency services and notifies the families of the persons involved in the emergency situation.
Two fellow South Africans, Drew van der Riet (University of KwaZulu-Natal: Advanced Prosthetics Engineering), and Gavin Jones (a technology commercialisation practitioner candidate working on the rehabilitation of stroke patients), also made it to the top five. Competing against 31 Swiss Boston Venturelab and Swiss China Venturelab groups, the South Africans took three of the five finalist spots
The South Africans were part of the Swiss-South African Business Development Programme (SSABDP), one of the instruments implemented under the Swiss South African Joint Research Programme. The SSABDP strengthens the entrepreneurial capacity of researchers and innovators in the commercialisation of their research projects. It also recognises the importance of initiatives that contribute to scientific and technological development to promote innovation in South Africa and Switzerland.
The programme is yielding positive results, according to evaluations done since its inception. The registration of more than ten companies, resulting in the creation of more than twenty highly skilled jobs, is a direct outcome of the programme.
Drew van der Riet identified three key features in the advanced prosthetics field that can be improved, namely, sensory feedback, advanced control and cost efficiency. He developed the concept during his master's research project, which entailed the design of a sensory feedback system that sends information to an amputee. The amputee controls the prosthetic arm by giving the system commands.
Gavin Jones of the Technology Innovation Agency's CHUMA programme (commercialisation of technology) worked with the University of Cape Town on the rehabilitation of stroke patients in respect of handwriting. A functioning prototype for providing a rehabilitative mode of operation has already been built. It features a system providing five "actuated degrees of freedom" for the thumb, index and middle fingers, which are needed for a "tripod" handwriting grip.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, congratulated the South African entrepreneurs, saying, "These success stories represent the power science and innovation in ordinary lives and make science so relevant for our society. I am proud of our winners, they represent a new generation of knowledge workers that is being produced through our investment in the creation of national system of a National System of Innovation."
Enquiries:
Lunga Ngqengelele
MLO (Minister's Office)
Cell: 082 566 0446
Tel: 012 843 6799
