The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) is attending the 2023 South Africa Innovation Summit (SAIS), held in partnership with the Technology Innovation Agency, in Cape Town, to reach out to stakeholders, dtic director: innovation and technology policy and strategy Nontombi Maseko told Engineering News on Thursday. The department is engaging with relevant people who could give it input on policy, but also access and benefit from the dtic incentive and support programmes.

The dtic has a stand in the exhibition area of the SAIS. Hosted on this stand are ten startup companies. These companies were selected through an Inventor’s Garage programme, run jointly by the dtic and SAIS. It was a rigorous selection process.

“These ten companies on our stand were the top ten startups from that programme,” she explained. “Each of these companies will be making a pitch at SAIS. The three that make the best pitches will each receive a prize in the form of a financial incentive, to invest in their business.”

The dtic assisted those of the startups, based elsewhere in the country, to fund their travel to Cape Town for SAIS.  

The startups have already given the department “quite positive” feedback, she reported. They were having interactions with possible clients, possible partnerships (including with other startups), and possible new and additional sources of funding and/or investment.

“It’s exciting just seeing innovators and startups getting a flavour of angel funders, venture capitalists and even co-development opportunities with universities,” enthused Maseko. “Thus, creating the potential for them to grow and to develop.”

The dtic also hosted a panel discussion at SAIS, on Thursday morning. The topic was “Fueling Global Competitiveness in the Digital Age”. The department has been partnering with the SAIS for several years, now, and has used the platform provided by the event to launch new policies and host policy dialogues.