The Gauteng Climate Innovation Centre (CIC) is being showcased at COP17 with 10 other top selected projects.
CIC is being featured prominently along with Eskom's Ceres Wind project, the Department of Energy's solar projects, and others, at the South African Pavilion, at the Climate Change Response (CCR) Expo, at COP17, from 28 November to 9 December.
The CIC is a public-private partnership between The Innovation Hub and infoDev, part of the World Bank Group. The South African government, represented by an inter-ministerial task team of Cabinet ministers, senior advisors and officials, in consultation with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), selected the CIC as one of the Top 10 South African projects.
The CIC network initiative was designed and launched by the World Bank Group's infoDev, and aims to accelerate the development, deployment and transfer of locally relevant climate technologies.
The MEC of economic development, Qedani Mahlangu, says the CIC will boost green growth and job creation by financing and supporting the competitive and profitable involvement of clean tech SMEs in local and international supply chains and markets.
“We are aiming to form a holistic approach to boosting green growth and industrial competitiveness through supporting innovation in climate technologies and by involving a range of stakeholders (government, private sector, research community, donors and NGOs),” says McLean Sibanda, CEO of The Innovation Hub, a subsidiary of Blue IQ Investment Holdings, which is an agency of the Gauteng Department of Economic Development (DED).
The Innovation Hub's efforts to support domestic innovation, technology transfer and commercialisation are particularly strong in the area of information and communication technology (ICT), and it is focused on extending this to climate innovation, as evidenced by this partnership.
The Climate Innovation Centre, in Gauteng, supports innovation and entrepreneurship by offering a full suite of services that support climate technology commercialisation. The services include incubating promising start-ups, access to finance, product testing facilities, market and IP information and guidance, as well as technical assistance.
Access to innovative solutions that have been developed by SMEs will be handled by the CIC so that large corporations, all spheres of governments, and in particular municipalities, can utilise and roll out the solutions. In this way, the CIC will act as a focal point or a 'one-stop-shop' to aggregate efforts in promoting the growth of locally relevant climate industries.
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The Innovation Hub
The Innovation Hub - Africa's first internationally accredited Science and Technology Park and a full member of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP) - is the leading knowledge-intensive business cluster in South Africa.
Strategically located in Pretoria, Gauteng - South Africa's executive capital and 'smart' province - The Innovation Hub's intelligent community has become a regional centre of innovation and knowledge creation, linked to the fast moving world of global interconnectivity.
The Innovation Hub has created a unique space for high-tech entrepreneurs, world-class businesses, academics, researchers and venture capitalists to meet, network and prosper. Its value-adding business support services contribute to the growth and globalisation of technology-rich enterprises in an environment that promotes innovation and enhances competitiveness for knowledge-based businesses.
For more information, visit http://www.theinnovationhub.com.
Blue IQ
Blue IQ Investment Holdings is an implementation agency of the Gauteng provincial government through the Department of Economic Development. Launched in 2003, Blue IQ facilitates strategic economic infrastructure for the province, to position Gauteng as the gateway into Africa and the economic powerhouse of the continent, while addressing poverty alleviation, imperatives of the green economy and sustainable job creation.
Blue IQ identifies projects that are innovative, unique, smart, and a catalyst for further development and job creation. These projects are developed to the point where they become self-sustainable and can be handed over to other partners. The agency was responsible for flagship projects such as the Gautrain, Newtown and the Nelson Mandela Bridge, the Cradle of Humankind, Constitution Hill, the Automotive Industry Development Centre and the Supplier Park Development Company.
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