Looking back at 2024 with the Wits Innovation Centre
- Wits University
It was a year of establishment and growth for the Wits Innovation Centre (WIC) as it broke new ground to coordinate and encourage innovation across Wits.
As 2024 comes to a close, the team is particularly proud of key achievements in the Centre’s second year of existence.
Letlotlo Phohole, the Acting Director and Senior Programme Manager of the WIC says it implemented the first Strategic Plan on Innovation, which runs from 2023 to 2027. This plan outlines how to encourage innovation across diverse academic and research disciplines. “It fosters a culture of inclusive innovation, supporting theoretical and practical applications while translating innovative ideas into market-ready solutions and entrepreneurial ventures,” he says.
The team also worked hard to strategically shift Innovation Support, which works with both academics and student entrepreneurs. This unit now focuses more on optimised processes, digitised operations, and knowledge management across faculties.
This unit helped the university secure 13 patents in 2024, particularly in the fields of health sciences and bioengineering technologies. These innovations focused on breakthroughs in work around neural tissue regeneration, solar energy optimisation, and treatments for cancer and ageing, to name a few.
Dr Adam Pantanowitz, who holds the Angela and David Fine Chair of Innovation, highlights that the university also approved the Wits Innovation Fund, which is currently in establishment and will hopefully be implemented in 2025.
On top of that, commercialisation guidelines were approved. Pantanowitz says, “that is crucial because it governs how early stage businesses come out of the university and how the deal works for them.”
Academic achievements
On the academic side, the first year of the Postgraduate Diploma (Science) in the field of Innovation and Entrepreneurship was a big success. Professor Christo Doherty, the academic co-ordinator of the programme, says it is a significant achievement that the first iteration went smoothly and all students passed. “It was an excellent cohort, who will be taking their skills further, and laying the foundations for future students.” The 2025 programme is already popular, and the team hopes to secure thirty spots for students.
One of the elements of the PGDip was the Design Thinking for Innovation Bootcamp. It has now also been offered to the industry as a part of the Jozi My Jozi initiative. Senior Lecturer, Nic Cloete-Hopkins says it “enabled participants from various sectors - government, academia, business, and the community - to innovate and create more sustainable and efficient urban solutions.”
The WIC also ran a number of ad-hoc programmes, like the Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship course in collaboration with the Wits Health Consortium. This focused on helping participants across different disciplines understand how health innovation ideas can be turned into companies and projects.
Several projects were supported by the Afretec Network. For instance, the Prospector Course trained post-graduates in innovation and culminated in a pitch session. An Afretec train-the-trainers workshop prepared people from various academic institutions to equip others with innovation skills. The work reached a wider online audience through the Wits Innovation Seminar series, offering fascinating interviews throughout the year. And, the Afretec Industry Academic Workshop strengthened ties between the two.
In the lab
The WIC also strengthened and augmented the university’s Innovation Systems Lab, which helps translate research ideas and concepts into designs and minimum viable products (MVPs) for staff, students, and Wits spin-off companies. Phohole says, “This capability, which is normally outsourced, is now an integral part of the innovation process within the university, fostering a more self-sufficient and streamlined approach to product development.”
Innovation Systems Lab Manager Moses Mogotlane gives the example of the CleanTouch project, which developed antimicrobial coatings for high-contact surfaces. ”The work provides an alternative solution for reducing hospital-acquired infections,” he says.
A project where the team 3D printed custom sink tap handles to serve as test components for a research study conducted at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. ”The work provides an alternative solution for reducing hospital-acquired infections,” he says.
As part of the deliverables, the team 3D printed three prototype designs of sink tap handles. These were used as test components in a research study conducted at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. This work has made a significant impact by advancing healthcare innovation through prototyping and research support.
Furthermore, the WIC’s Telkom Industry Solutions Lab expanded in 2024 under the leadership of the Steering Committee and Lab Co-Directors. This expansion has strengthened the lab's ability to continuously align with Telkom regarding the rationale for selected projects and their potential value proposition. The team, now exceeding ten members, includes Telkom and Wits staff.
Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Solwazi Majola, adds that “This strategic collaboration leverages a combination of academic research and industry-specific developments, tackling multiple active projects using Design Thinking approaches to find innovative ways that advance both technology and application in the field."
While the year had many highlights, the WIC has many plans for the future. Phohole says, “The WIC has been well received, making it approachable and greatly increasing demand – a challenge we met by building capacity once we were certain we had moved beyond the hype cycle.”