The Innovation Hub has won the bid to host the 25th World Conference of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP) in 2008 in Gauteng. Support for the Hub's bid from the international board of the IASP was unanimous.
According to Hub CEO, Dr Neville Comins, succeeding in bringing the IASP World Conference to Gauteng, and the African continent, for the very first time was a huge coup. "We now have the opportunity to begin to position Africa as a progressive continent that is moving forward into the knowledge economy," he said.
Science Parks are technology clusters managed by specialists to increase the wealth of communities by stimulating innovation and the competitiveness of associated businesses and knowledge-based institutions.
The Innovation Hub, as Africa's first internationally accredited Science Park and the first full IASP member on the continent, has also created the first hi-tech cluster in Gauteng. Located on a knowledge axis between the CSIR and the University of Pretoria, the Hub is one of Gauteng's Blue IQ initiatives to stimulate economic growth and sustainable development in the province.
The IASP World Conferences attract delegates from more than 50 countries across the world, with delegates ranging from government officials to Science Park managers and research institutions involved with the growth of knowledge economy regions. The 2008 World Conference is set to expose a potentially significant global audience to the developments taking place both in this region and in Africa as a whole.
Comins points to China, host of the 2005 IASP World Conference, as an example of how the Science Park model can contribute of a country's economic development.
"China boasts 53 national Science Parks and 108 regional parks, consisting of 38 000 businesses, employing 4.5 million people and contributing to almost 5% of the country's economy. This indicates the potential of the model for growing clusters and impacting the economies of developing countries."
The benefits for The Innovation Hub itself will also be quite significant, affording it an opportunity to influence the conference programme to better understand and learn from other parks how the Science Park model can be optimised for developing countries.
The visibility of Science Parks among hi-tech companies globally creates opportunities for the Hub to explore discussions on investment potential for the country. According to Comins, the Science Park community, if viewed as a wider network, can be utilised "to become a global collaboration, marketing and business opportunity for Science Park residents".
At this year's IASP Conference in Beijing, strong emphasis was placed on the development of local and regional networks, based on the Science Parks themselves, such as the Hub's own INNOV8 community and its links will local research and educational institutions. Commenting on this, Comins asserted that as a young park, the Hub may have a lot to learn, but it already has a lot to contribute as well.
"Many of the ingredients that we have are correct. We now have to energise them and continue to learn from the experiences of others," he said.
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More information available at www.theinnovationhub.com