College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2021 68 join the Centre. Many of the innovators, hackers, tech savvy, disruptors, young talent responded and were taken through a process of assessment to be onboarded. Our key people and partners in the Centre include the Head of Centre, student assistants, TPC Ambassadors, a considerable number of student developers, coders and hackers, casual mentors, and coaches from various industries such as Microsoft, Huawei, Geekulcha and CISCO. Regular mentors for our students are Dr Patric Ndayizigamiye (UJ), Prof Njenga Kennedy (UJ), Mr Mixo Ngobeni, Mr Muzi Ntombela, Dr Oluwapelumi Giwa, Mrs Tebogo Bokaba (UJ), Ms Sina Legong, Ms Keitumetsi Tsotetsi, Mr Steve Jump, Mr Risuna Maluleke and several international partners, such as Mr Foster Awintiti Akugri, Mrs O Manor, Mrs Victoria Mehran. Many undergraduate students and several honours, master’s and doctoral students are hosted in the Centre. POLICY AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES In 2020 and 2021, Mr Ronny Mabokela (Head of Centre) was also interviewed by UJFM radio, electronic and print media regarding innovation, hackathons and how they fit in within the UJ and national policies. He was deeply involved several public webinars which advises and assists inventors in developing strategies for the protection of intellectual property (IP) protection and technology commercialisation, drafting the relevant legal agreements, managing the patenting of inventions and the registration of trademarks, establishing start-up companies, and acquiring equity in established companies after commercial due diligence. He also worked closely with UJ Technology Transfer Office (TTO) and PanAfrican Information Communication Technology Association (PAICTA) in advising students regarding commercially viable ideas and solutions. He also participated in many public innovation hackathons providing final judgement of youth solutions and mentoring of the youth including international platforms like Falling Wall Labs. The Centre hosted several innovation hackathons and webinars around 4IR-related technologies. Some collaborations with impactful partners include: • Data Science Hackathon in partnership with NEMISA in February 2021. • TPC in collaboration with PAICTA hosted the webinar about Technopreneurship: A vehicle for future start-ups – key panel members Prof Mpho Raborife. • A public seminar on collaboration with PAICTA about Technopreneurship: The role of women in tech start-ups. • Four UJ TPC teams participated in Ghana, Hacklab Hackathon in 2021 where we won two Best Solutions in AI for Big Data and Healthcare. • We hosted yet another NEMISA Datathon in November 2021 and TPC team Elites was declared the first runner-up. • We participated in the MTN Business Hackathon & TADhack hackathon in September 2021 where Ms Lerato Tlhako, second-year BIT student was declared best Female Innovator of the Year 2021. • We participated in the 4 series of 21 Empire Partner Foundation hackathons where three of our teams emerged victorious: 3 x first prize, and 1 x second prize in 2021. • We participated in the Geekulcha hackathon and in the Start-up Biz Hack 2021 we took the first prize. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES Although, our students together with partners do conduct research to build innovations and solutions as well as looking at the impact of hackathon for skills development, the research gathered of all these contributions are currently in progress. However, there are planned publications in collaboration with department of applied information systems to publish a paper on the impact of hackathons as well as technopreneurship as a strategy to accelerate innovation and digital skills. In collaboration with Ghana, Hacklab Foundation, we will look at a framework for sustainable incubation and digital skills development SUSTAINABILITY, INNOVATION AND FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (4IR) The Centre currently sustains itself through prizes won in the hackathons. We also receive enormous support from the School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Systems. We are currently looking for funding to sustain the Centre long term and are using the knowledge of our advisory board members to assist in financial stability. Regarding operational stability, the Centre is
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjU1NDYx