Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande
Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday his department has made progress towards setting up a fund that will ease the risk of bringing new technological innovations onto the market.
Nzimande told a media briefing in Cape Town the fund would receive R1-billion per year for five years, with the aim of making these new business ventures more attractive for investors.
"The fund is designed to largely de-risk the early stages of technology commercialisation and/or business development. An injection of R1-billion per year for five years is expected to make a significant impact in making these businesses more attractive to investors for significant scale-up," he said.
Nzimande said the past decade has seen a significant increase in applications for intellectual property rights licences and in the number of start-ups coming out of the country's higher education institutions.
He said his department planned to use its budget increase for the current financial year -- up to R8.15-billion from R7.79-billion -- to support new research and the development of new industries that could serve to beneficiate raw materials exported by South Africa.
Nzimande was addressing journalists on his department's budget vote.