Smsweb and the DSG-NCR Debt Help Web site were honoured as top innovators at the innovationTOWN`s iHero awards ceremony last week. It took place at Newtown`s Sci-Bono Discovery Centre.
InnovationTown founding partners, Axius Publishing, SoulCircle, and CIDA City Campus, said the awards recognise SA`s best innovators as part of a 2010 initiative to recreate SA as an innovative country. By doing this, it is hoped a solution-oriented approach to issues facing the country will be encouraged.
Smsweb won in the iSciTech category, which honours innovations in science and technology, for its school-specific SMS communication platform. The system allows schools to communicate directly with learners` parents and sees about 200 schools sending 350 000 SMSes a month.
The iGovernment award went to Digital Solutions Group (DSG) and the National Credit Regulator (NCR) for the NCR Debt Help Web site, for its innovative use of technology to help NCR`s debt counsellors.
The overall "Grand Prix" accolade that recognises "South Africa`s leading innovation or innovator" went to Lapdesk, a writing surface that addresses the lack of traditional classroom desks at South African schools. School children can hold the Lapdesk against their body or sit with it on their lap - giving them an effective writing surface whether sitting under a tree in a rural school, in a classroom without desks, or at home.
The iBusiness award - for innovation in the corporate sector - went to Nedbank Power Billboard, which generates electricity with solar panels attached to the billboard, generating power for a disadvantaged school in a poor township. The power harnessed enables the school`s kitchen to provide 1 100 meals daily and provides much needed visibility at night, powering spotlights for extra security.
Taddy Blecher, CEO of CIDA City Campus and co-founder of innovationTOWN, said SA "desperately has to encourage entrepreneurship.
"We need to get innovators to be sexy in society - those are the true heroes of society. We must celebrate people who build and create, people who don`t sit, talk and moan."
CIDA is the previous winner of "The Innovation & Sustainability Awards", a five-year programme from which the iHero awards were borne.
The ceremony included a live interview with creative thinking author Edward de Bono, from London, via CNBC Africa, as well as a video message from Sir Richard Branson, as Branson School of Entrepreneurship sponsored the iEntrepreneur award.
De Bono said creative thinking is a skill that can be taught - schools in China and India are already introducing training; its students emerge with the skills to be innovative. Africa needs to be creative and should make a big effort to do so, he said.
Branson said the award aims to increase the awareness of the reality of entrepreneurship - that "the fruits come only after blood, sweat and tears have been shed".
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