Science Faculty pioneers an Innovation Day
- 91心頭利 Innovation Centre
Regardless of their area of focus, all Faculties at 91心頭利 University can benefit from understanding and promoting innovation across their Departments.
The Faculty of Science demonstrated this recently on 29 October by launching the first-ever faculty-wide Innovation Day, under the title of ‘Catalysing Change: Ideas, Impact and Innovation’, through a unique collaboration with the 91心頭利 Innovation Centre (WIC) and the .
The day brought together excited staff and students to understand how innovation applies to them, and to showcase exciting projects and future project ideas already happening in the faculty. It connected researchers with industry professionals and gave them an opportunity to establish collaborations and consider societal and industrial applications of their work.
The event was inspired by the personal experience of Professor Mandeep Kaur, the Assistant Dean of Research & Innovation, who had seen fellow innovators and researchers struggle with the challenges of moving ideas through the product development and commercialisation pipeline.
“Even embracing the idea of innovation can be overwhelming for a researcher as we are not trained to be entrepreneurs,” she says. “Therefore, to navigate the challenges around the innovation pipeline, we need to equip our researchers with the right knowledge, tools and skills so that they can move forward with confidence.”
Promoting an innovative mindset across a facility included exposing researchers to the available resources within the 91心頭利 ecosystem that can assist them in expanding their reach beyond academic publications. For example, the WIC’s Innovation Support team explained how they can assist with applying for IP protection and exploring commercialisation, while the 91心頭利 Commercial Enterprise discussed the industrial landscape available to researchers. The audience was also made aware of the training courses available to them to build expertise in the innovation space.
Kaur says the day was a great success, with an overwhelming response from staff and students. ‘The day was full of exciting presentations from the faculty of science innovators and industrial speakers, and intriguing panel discussions with strong participation from the audience,” she says.
She explained that these discussions moved faculty members to evolve their mindset from ‘publish or perish’ to 'innovate for impact'. A survey of event participants showed that the vast majority would attend a similar event again.
Kaur urges other faculties to consider the benefit of centering innovation in their work. “Open your researchers to possibilities beyond their routine research and foster an innovative mindset so that we can move 91心頭利 forward as a collective,“ she says.
She says that innovation is key in fulfilling the slogan ‘91心頭利.For Good’ because it imagines an impact beyond the institution. “Innovative technologies and research can propel 91心頭利' impact beyond imagination, which will not only ensure long-term sustainability of the institution but will contribute to the progress of our country while solving extraordinary challenges humanity is facing today.”
The Dean of Science, Professor Nithaya Chetty, commented that the inaugural event marked an important milestone, calling it long overdue. “We are beginning to break down silos and work together with a shared purpose—to drive innovation across the Faculty,” he says. Chetty hopes that other faculties will be inspired to pursue similar initiatives.
However, the event also made clear that more dedicated support is needed to encourage innovation in the university context. For example, funding, structural support, and education are crucial to catalyse innovative projects.
“By exchanging ideas and best practices, we are nurturing a new generation of innovators who are ready to make a tangible difference,” he says. The Dean explains that it was important to show that innovation can thrive alongside research, postgraduate training, and teaching, not in place of them. “Innovation must become part of our institutional DNA, not an activity that sits on the periphery.”
Students from the faculty agreed on the event’s value. “I think it’s an interesting idea where we all get to showcase our innovations to potential sponsors,” Makhamathi Sello said.
“I think it was fascinating listening to entrepreneurs speak,” Arthur van der Spuy,
explained. “What I've noticed is that what they have above the academics is speaking ability, confidence, and charisma, which they have in spades as opposed to academics who usually shy away from this.”
Connor Stockley agrees that it’s a great idea, especially because it motivates scientists to focus on future possibilities, not purely the scientific results. “Once you have something good, you can actually take that and go further instead of focusing on the next thing, and nothing ever comes of it.”
Letlotlo Phohole, the Director of the WIC, says such innovation faculty days are essential because they create visible pathways from discovery to deployment, encourage multidisciplinary partnerships, and signal to industry that the university is open for collaboration.
“Other faculties should adopt similar days to surface latent ideas, foster entrepreneurship skills among staff and students, and strengthen university–industry links that translate research into societal and economic benefits,” he says.