The Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship at Stellenbosch University officially launched the South African Innovation Ecosystem Policy Hub (SAIEPH) at Asara Wine Estate on Friday.
The goal of the three-year pilot is to give policymakers a shared, evidence-based picture of South Africa’s innovation ecosystem by bringing together information that is currently fragmented across government and other institutions.
This hub is envisioned as a strategic platform that generates reliable data, actionable insights and evidence to support better innovation policy and ecosystem decision-making, said Michelle Harding, programme manager at the CSIR, at the event.
“Our work is organised around three interconnected pillars. The first is ecosystem intelligence, which focuses on analysing data, generating insights and evidence to inform policy and decision-making.
“The second pillar is funding and financing of innovations, which helps us better understand funding flows, financing gaps and investment opportunities across the entire landscape. And lastly, ecosystem building, where we focus on connecting the entrepreneur innovation ecosystem through policy bridges and supporting coordination mechanisms.”
Sister initiatives
Additionally, SAIEPH’s efforts will be bolstered by two cross-cutting sister initiatives, said Harding.
These are: innovation skills development, which will focus on identifying the critical innovation and commercialisation capabilities across the ecosystem, and includes conducting a much-needed gap analysis; as well as socialising innovation throughout South Africa, which aims to build a stronger culture of innovation and position innovation as a tool for economic development and national pride.
“The SAIEPH initiative is rooted in a very simple observation. While South Africa has many strong innovation actors and programmes, these often operate in parallel instead of operating as part of a broader integrated system,” she shared.
“This means South Africa’s larger innovation landscape is missing out on opportunities to transfer knowledge, share evidence, collaborate and enhance the intelligence we already have.
“This isn’t a criticism of existing efforts; rather it’s an attempt to highlight the growing need for a more connected ecosystem approach to unlock greater impact. We need to better understand how the different parts of the innovation ecosystem interact and where strategic connections can be strengthened,” Harding added.
According to Harding, when one looks at the South African innovation landscape, there are three distinct but interconnected ecosystems. First, the traditional innovation ecosystem made up of universities, research councils and tech companies. Second, the entrepreneurship ecosystem, made up of technology start-ups, accelerators, investors and venture builder networks. And third, the informal or township economy, which generates significant entrepreneurial activity through frugal innovation, community initiatives and social innovation.
“These ecosystems may differ when it comes to priorities, funding models and stakeholder networks, yet all three contribute to the broader national system of innovation in South Africa. If we agree that these ecosystems are truly interconnected, the opportunity lies in studying and strengthening the connections between them, enabling greater knowledge flows and collaboration, and creating more inclusive innovation outcomes.”
Collaboration is key
Speaking to ITWeb on the sidelines of the event, she explained that strengthening the innovation ecosystem is not only about data and policy; it's also about building the capabilities, mindset and culture needed for innovation to thrive across society.
“A key strength of SAIEPH is its collaborative partnership model. So rather than creating another standalone institution, the hub brings together organisations with complementary capabilities and mandates.
“The DSTI provides policy leadership and strategic direction. The CSIR, through the Innovation Support and Enablement Programme, supports implementation and platform development. It’s a practical example of how government can use data and digital tools to improve policymaking, coordinate programmes and make better-informed funding decisions.”
If an entrepreneur is working in the agricultural sector in Limpopo and needs funding to start a new venture, they will probably do a Google search for “funding agriculture Limpopo Province”, said Harding.
This might work well enough, but as an entrepreneur, time is money, which means that every minute spent searching the internet for the information they need is time they could be spending on more important tasks. “SAIEPH is all about accelerating the journey for different actors across the ecosystem by providing real innovation support and enablement.”
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