The Innovation Hub has ended its 2006/7 financial year cash-flush and in the black.
The Gauteng provincial government initiative falls under the Blue IQ umbrella. It aims to develop knowledge-intensive business clusters to generate intellectual property, forming a foundation for technology commercialisation globally.
The Innovation Hub is also mandated to support entrepreneurial small and medium enterprises.
The organisation's latest annual report shows its revenue for the 2006/7 financial year rose to R38 million, from R16.3 million the previous year. This brought the net surplus for the year to R6.3 million, from a deficit of R1.5 million in the 2005/6 financial year.
The company's cash flow also improved from R5.8 million in the 2006/7 financial year to R44.1 million at the end of the 2006/7 financial year.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which audited its annual report, indicates the growth in revenue is due to an increase in service provision to residents of The Innovation Hub, as well as other clients, in the areas of conference and ICT services. This growth, in turn, resulted from high-occupancy rates, with its enterprise building reaching full capacity in the financial year under consideration.
A total of 68 companies are now resident at The Innovation Hub, among them Absa, Cisco, Sappi, SunSpace and Information Systems.
The auditors found no fruitless or wasteful expenditure was incurred in the 2006/7 financial year.
The Innovation Hub CEO Dr Neville Comins says this can be ascribed to the organisation's sound governance practices, with financial checks and balances forming part of every phase of its development.
With regards to the cash the company now has at hand, Comins says it is "being allocated to commitments based on planning and approval. The allocations include priorities such as a new multi-tenant building, road infrastructure completion, and final adjustments to facilities, such as energy-saving on lighting, and open-area cover to increase the capacity of the conference venue."
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