College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2023 79 POLICY AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES In 2022, the Centre actively participated in numerous public engagements and activities, showcasing its commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship. Mr Ronny Mabokela, Head of the Centre, was prominently featured in interviews with various media outlets, including NEMISA media, Startup Business Campus media, and ITWeb media. These interviews focused on exploring the intersection of innovation and entrepreneurship within the context of UJ and national policies. In 2023, Mr Ronny Mabokela continued to make significant contributions to the tech innovation landscape, serving as a judge and mentor on several platforms. Notably, he assumed the role of chief expert at the BRICS Skills Mobile Apps event held in South Africa. The Centre also actively participated in a series of innovation hackathons, including those organised by the Centre for Public Service Innovation, ITWeb Security Summit Hackathon, Ayoba Gaming Hackathon, MTN App of the Year, and Lesotho Public Financial Management Hackathon. These events aimed to foster skills development among the youth and cultivate business startups to strengthen the South African economy. Furthermore, students at the Centre, alongside Mr Mabokela, played a pivotal role in hosting public webinars focused on advising inventors on various aspects of intellectual property (IP) protection and technology commercialisation. This included drafting legal agreements, managing patenting processes, registering trademarks, establishing startup companies, and conducting commercial due diligence. Collaborations with Startup Business Campus, UJ Technology Transfer Office (TTO), and 22 on Sloane in partnership with African Bank provided students with guidance on developing commercially viable ideas and solutions. Additionally, the Centre organised and participated in various innovation hackathons and webinars centred on 4IR-related technologies. Partnerships with impactful organisations, such as CPSI, BCX, African Bank, Alibaba, MTN, NEMISA, ITWeb, GirlCode, Ayoba, MTN MoMo, and Umtata 4IR Digital Skills, further enhanced the reach and impact of our initiatives. Notably, the UJ TPC team emerged as the finalist of the NEMISA Data Science Hackathon, securing a spot for incubation and further development of their solution. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES Our students, alongside our partners, are actively involved in research to develop innovative solutions and evaluate the effectiveness of hackathons in skills development. Presently, we are strategically positioning our centre on R&D partnering with organisations to achieve research outputs and we have exciting plans for research publications. Working closely with the Department of Marketing and Applied Information Systems, Information and Knowledge Management, we aim to publish journal articles exploring the impact of hackathons in generating solutions, as well as the role of Technopreneurship in driving innovation and digital skill enhancement. Additionally, we are eager to collaborate with the Innovation Hub, Innovation Village and CSIR to formulate a framework for sustainable incubation and digital skill development. Moreover, we are focusing on utilising postgraduates for research publication, leveraging their expertise to contribute valuable insights to our research initiatives. Through these efforts, we aim to advance knowledge in the field of innovation and solutions while fostering sustainable development in our community.
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