Professor Roy Marcus chairperson of the TT100 adjudication process,
Mr Edward Kieswetter President of the Da Vinci Institute,
Mr Sechaba Motsieloa Chairperson of the Council of The Da Vinci Institute,
Professor Ben Anderson CEO of the The Da Vinci Institute for Technology Management,
Mr Seth Phalatse Chairperson of Da Vinci Holdings,
Dr Steve Lennon former Chairperson National Advisory Council on Innovation,
Mr Mike Myers Chairman of Resolution Circle at the University of Johannesburg,
Representatives from sponsoring organisations, Hewlett Packard, Eskom, The IDC, Accenture, PWC and the South African Academy of Engineering, Resolution Circle,
Representatives from those very special TT100 companies who have provided a unique opportunity for the DST interns to gain real work experience,
Adjudicators of the TT100 awards programme, qualifiers and category award winners of the TT100 programme, distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen
I'm delighted that you have accepted my invitation to see South African technology and innovation in action.
Tonight is the culmination of a year-long programme in which we sought out the best of South African, African and BRICS technologies. It's a special night in as much as we are able to recognise the successes of a group of organisations that have had the courage to subject themselves to what is now recognised as the most intensive technology innovation adjudication process in the country.
Tonight we welcome our first international participants and I hope that this marks the beginning of greater collaboration between South African tech companies and international tech companies. Expanding into Africa and the BRICS countries provides us with a unique opportunity for collaboration. There is no doubt that in every country there is expertise and technologies that are world class and that need a programme such as this to show case what we have to offer.
The linking of the Technology Top 100 programme with our first time Innovation Bridge project is also important. It's important because we need to create real linkages between our research organisations and private and public sector companies. We need to breakdown the barriers between our research establishments and potential business partners. This year we have limited the entrants to publicly funded research institutions but we plan to open it up to all research organisations.
I'm particularly pleased to note that the TT100 companies have continued to support us in providing workplace experiential learning for our unemployed graduate programme. I value the commitment these organisations have made and I value their willingness to partner with us.
For a long time I have been concerned that both the state and the private sector have preferred international over local technology suppliers.
We need to implement our policies that favour South African-based technologies and local procurement.
I know that as a country we have poor success rates in commercialising technologies and we need to remedy this in an appropriate manner. Whilst we have in place structures within government that support technology, we need to work with business to ensure that our locally developed technologies are supported so that they can address South Africa's development needs.
The need for more dialogue between my department and the key role players in the technology space is even more evidenced by the response we received from the Technology Top 100 questionnaire. There is clearly a challenge in as much as so many of the respondents were completely unaware of some of the support functions, which the department can offer your organisations.
I am thus encouraged by the fact that a number of organisations have now joined forces with the Technology Top 100 team at the Da Vinci Institute to establish the TT100 forum. I am looking forward to receiving your input as to how we can find more effective ways in harnessing the outstanding capabilities, which the TT100 companies have demonstrated in their submissions.
The year 2014 yielded a crop of outstanding companies some of whom have entered for the first time. I am also encouraged to see that two universities have entered the programme and hope that this encourages other universities. It is pleasing to note the number of new entrants and also very pleasing to note how many of the previous applicants have come back to have their operations adjudicated.
Finally, I wish to make special mention of the group of dedicated people who have acted as adjudicators, whose professionalism and adherence to the highest standards have made this programme one of the most highly recognised of its kind. Further, there is a group of people who have been actively working to ensure that we have reached this final stage of the 2014 Technology Top 100 programme. These are the back office team who work tirelessly on the entry process, the data collation and the organisation of the awards function. To all of you I wish to place on record our sincere appreciation for your efforts.
