The government`s Innovation and Sustainability Awards (ISA) 2005 aim to recognise people who seek new and better ways of working. The awards are a joint venture between the public and the private sector, boasting a number of prestigious winners including the CIDA City Campus, Daimler Chrysler`s HIV/AIDS programme, and the Sunnyside unit of the SA Police Services, for their work in the prevention of women abuse.
These awards have become a benchmark of innovation across all sectors of South African society, and a celebration of the innovative capability of the nation.
Speaking at the launch of the 2005 awards held in May, and opened by Minister of Public Service and Administration, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Michael Renzon, MD of Intelleca Voice & Mobile, the company that won the ICT and overall Grand Prix awards last year for its development of the South African English Acoustic Model, said that in SA innovation and entrepreneurship are synonymous.
"South Africans laud successful entrepreneurs especially when they reach great heights - and I`m not talking about space travel," says Renzon. "The reality, however, is that innovation and entrepreneurship in this country are a road travelled alone without the help of government highways and banking off-ramps."
Among the questions Renzon says the public and private sectors need to ask themselves are:
* How does SA Africa become the next Israel, which created an IT oasis in the desert?
* Who ever thought that an IT support query from New York would be answered in a mega call centre in India?
* When will SA create the next Malaysian Cyber Jaya to harness and stimulate innovation?
While entrepreneurs will most certainly play a key role in leading the innovation charge, Renzon believes the answers to innovation on a scale that will have a macro-economic effect lie in:
* Identification of niche technologies where SA already has qualified and talented expertise and where the country can compete effectively.
* Sufficient funding for these initiatives so that SA can compete on a global scale.
* Government policies and incentives to channel public and private sector funding into these initiatives through a vibrant and well funded venture capital and mezzanine-level community.
* The development of accessible and affordable innovation cities to create SA`s own Silicon Valley.
* Coordination between the private sector, government and universities to ensure the right resources are being skilled up.
Renzon adds that the transformation from entrepreneurial innovation to macro-economic innovation is key to turning SA into a truly great innovative nation that is competitive on a global scale.
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