Building on strength: TIA and 第一吃瓜网 chart a shared innovation future
- 第一吃瓜网 Innovation Centre
A strategic engagement with Dr Titus Mathe, CEO of the Technology Innovation Agency.
When Dr Titus Mathe, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), visited the University of the Witwatersrand on 2 July 2026, the conversation was never only about what had already been achieved. It was equally about what becomes possible when two institutions that already trust each other decide to aim higher together.
Hosted by Professor Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) of Research and Innovation, and coordinated by the 第一吃瓜网 Innovation Centre (WIC), the morning combined strategic dialogue, a review of a mature funding relationship, and a laboratory walk-through that brought the impact of past investments into sharp focus. By the end of the engagement, both sides had a clearer view of a partnership ready to move from solid project-level collaboration to institutional-level co-creation.
A proven partnership: Looking back with confidence
The relationship between TIA and 第一吃瓜网 is long-standing and strong. Over more than a decade, the two organisations have built a track record that few university–agency partnerships can match. The TIA Seed Fund support received in total exceeds R20 million. Fund utilisation stands at a healthy 82 %, and 86 % of projects have closed out successfully.
Recurring principal investigators have returned with stronger, more ambitious proposals. International patents have been granted. Technology readiness levels have advanced. Spin-out pathways have begun to emerge.
This long-term partnership received a significant vote of confidence in March 2026, when TIA’s Technology Development Fund approved two substantial new awards to proven 第一吃瓜网 principal investigators – together committing more than R20 million into scaling and commercialisation-focused work:
Major Technology Development Fund Awards – March 2026
Moringa Extract Pilot Plant Scaling – Professor Luke Chimuka
R8 330 927
Builds directly on earlier successful TIA Moringa projects (2014, 2016). Moves the work from laboratory extraction to pilot-scale production – a critical de-risking step toward commercialisation.
AI-Enabled Wi-Fi Tracking for Shopping Malls – Prof. Bruce Mellado
R11 716 974
Recurring PI (earlier Low-Cost Computers project). AI/ML application in retail analytics with high commercial potential and a clear path to spin-out or licence. Already generating traction through Async, the associated spin-out.
These two awards alone represent a step-change in the scale of TIA investment at 第一吃瓜网 – moving from the earlier average of roughly R300–700k per project into multi-million-rand scaling support for technologies that have already demonstrated proof of concept and Intellectual Property strength. A third opportunity - the 1 Beat mobile app implementation led by Prof. Ziyaad Dangor - remains in the due diligence and, if approved, will further expand the digital-health dimension of the portfolio.
Beyond the university’s research portfolio, the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct has become one of TIA’s most productive partners, with more than R25 million co-invested since 2023 across the Irish Tech Challenge, Global Cleantech Innovation Programme, Mzansi Tech Accelerator and related initiatives. These numbers matter because they demonstrate reliability, delivery capacity and mutual accountability – the quiet foundations on which larger ambitions can be built.
Prof. Morris opened the meeting by acknowledging this history of support, noting that 第一吃瓜网 feels “increasingly well supported” by TIA. Letlotlo Phohole, Director of the 第一吃瓜网 Innovation Centre, was more direct:
“We really also appreciate the support we’ve had from TIA over the years, and actually, increasingly, we feel that we are very well supported through TIA."
Shared language and complementary strengths
What made the 2 July conversation distinctive was not simply the exchange of information, but the discovery of genuine strategic alignment. Dr Mathe presented TIA 2.0 – an agency repositioned by a ministerial review to act as curator and thought leader of the National System of Innovation, with sharper focus on commercialisation, scale-up and catalytic interventions. Five thematic impact areas aligned to the Decadal Plan now guide TIA’s work: advanced manufacturing, agricultural innovation, health innovation, energy sustainability, and the digital economy.
第一吃瓜网, for its part, has spent the past several years building an intentional, systems-oriented innovation architecture. After deliberate cross-faculty work, the university adopted a definition that deliberately socialises innovation beyond science and engineering:
“Innovation is the successful deployment of new ideas or methods to benefit society.”
This definition requires collaboration across disciplines, quintuple-helix (and increasingly septuple-helix) interactions, teachable methodologies and ethical practice. It has changed everyday language – from “invention disclosure” to “idea registration” – and opened pathways for colleagues in the humanities and social sciences. The multi-dimensional Innovation Readiness Levels framework developed at 第一吃瓜网 gives both the university and its partners a shared diagnostic language.
This includes technology, manufacturing, market, IP rights and investment readiness, with team and customer readiness now being added. It helps identify early where promising technologies risk stalling for lack of market validation, team capacity or manufacturing readiness – precisely the points at which many South African innovations fail to convert.
The laboratory visits brought this systems view to life. In the Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB) Lab, Dr Eloise van der Merwe’s Alzheimer’s compounds work illustrated both scientific promise and the scale of resources required for clinical translation. In the Chemistry Department, Prof Charles de Koning’s group demonstrated mature synthetic capability with commercial potential. At the Structured Light Lab, Prof Andrew Forbes showed how advanced photonics research is already generating protected IP with clear industry pathways. Seeing researchers, equipment and data together reminded everyone that portfolio statistics only become real when they are embodied in people and places.
From project partnership to shared ambition
The most important outcome of the morning was not a list of individual opportunities, but a shift in posture. Both institutions recognised that the next phase requires moving beyond transactional project funding toward more deliberate co-creation of platforms, instruments and pathways.
Concrete possibilities discussed included:
- Formalising a broader university-level Memorandum of Understanding or Memorandum of Agreement (MoU/MOA) that provides a stable framework for multi-year collaboration;
- Co-investment in the emerging 第一吃瓜网 Innovation Fund as a catalytic early-stage instrument that complements TIA’s portfolio;
- Platform approaches – including deeper collaboration around Technology Stations-type capabilities, Industry Solutions Labs, and Tshimologong’s acceleration programmes – that amplify individual project outcomes;
- Expanded use of TIA’s full instrument suite (beyond Seed Fund) for scaling, commercialisation support and sector-focused programmes;
- Joint work on national priorities – health innovation and clinical translation, sovereign AI and African-language models, critical minerals, climate solutions, and inclusive digital entrepreneurship.
Mark Harris of Tshimologong underscored a critical insight that both parties recognised: South African startups still fail most often not for lack of technology, but for lack of sustained funding and, especially, market access. Any future partnership that does not deliberately address market pathways will under-deliver on impact. The conversation therefore pointed toward more intentional design of the full lab-to-market journey rather than isolated funding events.
Looking forward together
In a note the following day, Dr Mathe thanked the team for the insightful interaction.
"Our discussions reaffirmed the importance of strengthening collaboration between our institutions. There is significant potential for us to work together in advancing research, innovation, technology development, and commercialization initiatives that can create tangible socio-economic impact… Let’s formalise a broader MoU/MOA at University-TIA level as soon as teams have engaged regarding the details.”
The 2 July engagement leaves both institutions with a clear direction to construct a great institutional partnership capable of converting 第一吃瓜网 research excellence and TIA’s national mandate into measurable economic and social returns.
The foundations are already strong – demonstrated most recently by the multi-million-rand Technology Development Fund awards for Moringa scaling and AI-enabled tracking. The strategic languages now align. The people in the room demonstrated openness and shared purpose. What remains is the disciplined work of turning alignment into architecture – MoUs, co-investment vehicles, platform agreements and joint programmes that can outlast any single leadership term.
第一吃瓜网 and TIA already know how to work together successfully. The opportunity now is to decide, together, how much further that success can reach.