The Central University of Technology (CUT), Free State, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the University of the Free State (UFS) pledged their commitment to innovation and collaboration at the launch of the Regional Innovation Forum Free State (RIFFS), which took place at the CUT main campus in Bloemfontein earlier this month.

The RIFFS aims to bring together stakeholders from various segments in the innovation value chain to create strong systems of innovation by facilitating collaboration and supporting project and business development.

Collaboration “The primary [means of attaining] these goals [entail] providing a platform for engagement and collaboration among academia, industry and government and creating awareness of innovation and its benefits. The forum will not be an executive entity per se, but rather function as a catalyst and ‘feeder’ to consequent project teams,” CUT head of department for environmental health and project leader of the RIFFS Professor Ryk Lues tells Engineering News.

At the launch of the RIFFS, Department of Science and Technology (DST) deputy director-general Imraan Patel said: “The benefit of innovation is that it has the potential to address issues of inequality, poverty and unemployment by developing a unified vision and identifying areas of strength and capability within the region.”

The Free State province holds a strong position in the agriculture, mining and catering and hospitality sectors, which qualifies these sectors as initial focus areas for innovation through collaboration.

Collaboration and engagement form the backbone of the forum and the DST will roll out the regional innovation forums on a “national perspective” and it is understood that each province or region can streamline its own RIF to address issues peculiar to its needs.

“With [these] perspectives in mind, the RIFFS incorporates primarily Mangaung, expanding to the rest of the Free State province and, should the need arise during later stages, incorporating some of the eastern parts of the Northern Cape, the western regions of the Eastern Cape and the southern regions of the North West province,” says Lues.

Key Beneficiaries Students, the broader community, independent innovators, formal business and industry, as well as small, medium-sized and micro- enterprises, will be key beneficiaries of ideas and initiatives from the RIFFS. The RIFFS initiative is to improve the quality of life in the Free State and of its residents through the implementation of innovative ideas.

Besides the outcomes envisaged through targeted projects, entrepreneurship, enterprise development and job creation are integral deliverables of the RIFFS.

“This launch must be seen as an important outlet to encourage new ideas and promote constructive engagements between government, universities, the business community and civil society on how to empower our communities and help build the economy of this region and South Africa as a whole,” says CUT deputy vice chancellor: academics Professor Henk de Jager.