College of College of Graduate Studies

DTIC specialist to speak on innovation ecosystems at Unisa Innovation Festival

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The Unisa Innovation Festival is now in its second year and will run from 27 November to 1 December 2023 at the Muckleneuk and Science (Florida) Campuses, and the Southern Sun Hotel in Pretoria. It offers a valuable opportunity to learn about the latest innovation trends at Unisa, discuss broad trends in innovation, research and collaboration, and build partnerships within the innovation ecosystem.

The festival's theme, The future of innovation: Accelerating impact through collaboration, will be debated and discussed in a series of keynote addresses, panel discussions, workshops and networking platforms led by innovation leaders from academia, government, funding agencies, social entrepreneurship ventures and private sector organisations involved in innovation, including Nontombi Maseko.

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Nontombi Maseko

Maseko holds a BSc Honours in Chemistry and Applied Chemistry, and a Master of Management in Innovation Studies. She is a Director of Innovation and Technology Policy and Strategy at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC). She is responsible for developing policies and strategies, introducing new incentives, and supporting instruments for technology development, commercialisation and innovation to promote enterprise competitiveness and industrialisation. 

Her unit focuses on strengthening the conditions for developing high-growth, technology-based enterprises and promoting collaborative efforts of knowledge generators and innovators. She previously worked at the Department of Science and Technology (DST) as Deputy Director: Emerging Research Areas, where she was responsible for implementing the National Nanotechnology Strategy and developing the National Strategy for Photonics. Before joining the DST, she was part of the radio-analytical scientists' team at the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) for over six years. 

Maseko is an adjudicator/judge for several innovation, technology and entrepreneurship competitions, including the Da Vinci Technology Top 100 Awards Programme and the South African Breweries Foundation Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards. She also serves as a reviewer for the African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development. Previously, she served as a board member for the Africa Beyond Fourth Industrial Incubator (AB4IR) established by the Small Enterprise Development Agency and the Central University of Technology Innovation Services (CUTis) Pty (Ltd), where she was also chairperson of the committee on finance, planning, sustainability. 

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* Submitted by the Research, Innovation and Commercialisation Unit

Click here to register now. Registration is free. 

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Publish date: 2023/11/21

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