South African science student Gladys Hlongwana has an idea — a very good one that’s proven on paper, she says — but she needs help commercializing it.
A Ph.D. candidate at London’s Ravensbourne College, Hlongwana attended a Planet Earth Institute conference this week in London, where she got to meet African business and government leaders interested in the same questions.
How can Africa stop being a customer and start developing a science community that has global clients of its own?
How can African Ph.D. science students turn their knowledge into business opportunities once they graduate?
“We need help with that, especially from industry, the government and policymakers,” Hlongwana said.
With U.K. headquarters and an office in Angola, Planet Earth Institute describes itself as a charity with “African science and technology at its heart.” It works for scientific independence of Africa.
Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s Minister of Science and Technology, was at the conference. “Our missions have to be global,” Pandor told SABC. “They’re not just continental. The Ebola virus went way beyond the African continent and indicated that some of our health problems are global in nature so if we find solutions to them in Africa these solutions will be applied worldwide.”
Alan Kalton, program director at IBM Research Africa, was also there. IBM Research Africa announced plans in February to build a second African research lab — this one, outside Johannesburg. The first African IMB research lab opened November 2013 in Nairobi.
“The role of business is essential in science, and benefits run both ways,” Kalton said.
“(Africa has) a thriving culture of innovation, there are a huge number of entrepreneurial organizations that are evolving new technologies and it’s a marketplace that’s not just for the future. It’s now.”
The Johannesburg IBM research lab will be located at University of the Witwatersrand — Wits University — in the Braamfontein suburb of Johannesburg. IBM has committed to a $62 million investment over 10 years, according to UniversityWorld.
The Johannesburg IBM lab will focus on advancing big data, cloud and mobile technologies to support South Africa’s national priorities, boost skills development and foster innovations and intellectual property, particularly in the fields of health care, smart mining and urbanization.
In a press release, IBM Vice President John E. Kelly III said, “IBM considers two factors when deciding where to place research labs: access to world-class skills and talent and the ability to work on pressing business and societal challenges that can be best addressed through advanced information technology.
