Local entrepreneur, Marlize Holtzhauzen, walked away with top honours for her mobile app for emergency situations during this year's Googlefest Zurich pitching competition.
The app activates the emergency services and notifies the families of the persons involved in the emergency situation.
Two fellow South Africans, Drew van der Riet (University of KwaZulu Natal: Advanced Prosthetics Engineering), and Gavin Jones (a technology commercialisation practitioner candidate working on the rehabilitation of stroke patients), also made it to the top five.
Competing against 31 Swiss Boston Venturelab and Swiss China Venturelab groups, the South Africans took three of the five finalist spots.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, congratulated the South African entrepreneurs, saying: "This success story represents the translation of scientific research into products that can transform lives; this is why science is so relevant. I am very proud of our winners, because they represent the generation of knowledge workers that our National System of Innovation is developing."
Van der Riet identified three key features in the advanced prosthetics field that can be improved, namely, sensory feedback, advanced control and cost efficiency. He developed the concept during his master's research project, which entailed the design of a sensory feedback system that sends information to an amputee. The amputee controls the prosthetic arm by giving the system commands.
Gavin Jones of the Technology Innovation Agency's CHUMA worked with the University of Cape Town on the rehabilitation of stroke patients in respect of handwriting. A functioning prototype for providing a rehabilitative mode of operation has already been built. It features a system providing five "actuated degrees of freedom" for the thumb, index and middle fingers, which are needed for a "tripod" handwriting grip.
The South Africans were part of the Swiss-South African Business Development Programme (SSABDP), one of the instruments implemented under the Swiss South African joint research programme. The SSABDP strengthens the entrepreneurial capacity of researchers and innovators in the commercialisation of their research projects. It also recognises the importance of initiatives that contribute to scientific and technological development to promote innovation in SA and Switzerland.
The registration of more than 10 companies, resulting in the creation of more than 20 highly skilled jobs, is a direct outcome of the programme.
Share
