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South African universities will benefit from a multimillion-rand cash injection from generous donors to help advance research and innovation.
To help establish an ecosystem to drive researcher-led innovation at Wits University in Johannesburg, a US-based innovator and Wits alum Dr David Fine donated R50 million to the institution to advance innovation in South Africa.
Meanwhile, the president of the Hans Merensky Foundation, Dr Khotso Mokhele, last week signed a R11 million five-year research grant agreement with the University of the Free State (UFS). The Merensky research projects are currently limited to three South African universities – Stellenbosch University (for forestry research), the University of Pretoria (for avocados) and the UFS.
Wits said in celebrating its centenary this year, it had identified innovation as one of its major strategic thrusts and Fine’s donation of $3 million (R50 million) will be used to establish the Angela and David Fine Chair in Innovation.
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On Monday, Wits vice-chancellor and principal Professor Zeblon Vilakazi said they were grateful to Fine for walking the #Wits100 journey with them.
“His generous donation will go a long way towards propelling our research towards innovation, enabling scholars, researchers, students and those with curious minds to seek and create new knowledge across disciplines and sectors.” Vilakazi said:
Fine, who graduated from Wits with an honour’s degree in chemistry in 1964, said innovators were problem solvers.
“They can think practically across multiple technical disciplines and use accessible and inexpensive methods and material to build products and services that have a real-life impact. South Africa needs a culture of innovation. My hope is that the Chair in Innovation will help place Wits at the leading edge of innovation in the global South,” Fine said.
He mentioned that he was still passionate about inspiring a new generation of innovative problem solvers.
Director of innovation strategy at Wits Professor Barry Dwolatzky said this was an exciting time to be at the university.
“The Chair in Innovation is part of our broader innovation strategy that includes establishing the Wits Innovation Centre, which will support several important initiatives that are due to be announced in the coming months. Innovation thrives in diversity and, naturally, Wits is a rich, diverse community of researchers, academics, students and staff,” Dwolatzky said.
The Merensky Group for Aerial Geological Image Classification has made it possible for one to photograph a plant so clearly from a distance that it was likely to detect the health of its leaves.
Mokhele said the main objective of the Hans Merensky Foundation was to promote and assist in the development of the resources of South Africa and neighbouring territories, particularly natural resources like soil, water, flora and fauna.
Dr Martin Clark, a lecturer in the department of geology at UFS, said the funds would be used to support research programmes.
“This includes student bursaries, staff salaries, capital expenditure acquisitions such as high-performance computers, as well as the drones that the project makes use of. The aim is to develop drone-based geological imaging in South Africa with specific attention to mineral and groundwater exploration endeavours,” he said.
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