Philips Africa, in collaboration with The Innovation Hub, has launched its first South African Innovation Fellows competition to unlock innovative talent and address locally relevant challenges in healthcare.
The electronics giant will provide R200 000 as a research and development budget to the #nextbigidea in improving access to primary healthcare.
The competition comes after Philips announced the South African results of an Innovation Research study (conducted in five African countries), which aimed to understand what South African citizens think of innovation, perceived barriers to innovation and areas where successful innovation could improve lives.
Among other findings the study discovered that 60% of South Africans consider themselves to be innovators. Innovation is also deeply rooted in people who are educated, independent in their businesses or hold senior positions in companies.
"Africa is filled with opportunities and we have long seen this potential. Upon entering South Africa over 100 years ago, we have been committed to delivering meaningful innovations," said JJ Van Dongen, senior vice-president and CEO Philips Africa.
"Following our research, we now want to show our support in offering South Africans the opportunity to showcase their own tangible innovations that can fundamentally change and improve the lives of others. We are committed to delivering on our promise of 'innovation and you' and will support the entrants as they realise their success."
Some 71% Indians in SA and 80% of those living in KwaZulu-Natal are leading in terms of seeing themselves as innovative. Those respondents who lived with less fortunate circumstances (underdeveloped areas/unemployed) tend to find their own solutions to problems.
High confidence levels where noted among young black and Indian people living in more developed areas, whose innovations were often conceptualised. Based on the results, finding daily innovative solutions to everyday problems was higher among young people 74% in comparison to older respondents 26%.
"We believe that everyone has the potential to change the way we live for the better. Submit your next big idea and we will help you make a real difference to the current challenges identified in our African Innovation Research report," says Van Dongen.
McLean Sibanda, CEO of The Innovation Hub, says innovation is a catalyst for economic development and increases the competitiveness of the local economy.
"As The Innovation Hub and an agency of the Gauteng Department of Economic Development, collaborating with Philips on the first South African Innovation Fellows Competition will enable us to unlock technological innovations sitting among South Africans. These are the innovations that will assist in improving the living conditions of the South African communities," says Sibanda.
According to the research, 57% of correspondents indicated a lack of money as a key barrier to innovations, 29% highlighted poor infrastructure, 23% mentioned an unsupportive corporate culture and 22% government regulations as barriers. More expectation was placed on big companies to offer the right support (42%) with expectations on government opportunities much lower (31%).
Most respondents found it easier to come up with innovations to social problems that impact their immediate communities with the likelihood of turning ideas into something tangible quite high. However, functionalities like money and motivation proved to be barriers.
The majority of participants identified education (65.7%) and healthcare (64.2%) fields as areas of opportunity in innovation and where the most beneficial results would be seen
Fifty-four percent correspondents believe innovation should improve one's life and the lives of others with (36.4%) believing it should make daily life easier and more efficient.
Click here for more details and to enter the competition.
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