Help to find funding at hand

INNOVATION turns ideas into reality. Synergy is a word we hear used so often that it is in danger of losing its power.

But we must not lose sight of the enormous potential of synergy to create opportunities and to support critical growth and development in our region.

Innovation is what drives economic growth, and synergies between industry, academia and government in the Eastern Cape can drive innovations that can benefit the economy and our region. Innovation can turn ideas into reality, and plans into implementation.

The Regional Innovation Forum, initially proposed and funded by the Department of Science and Technology, brings together industry, government and academia to create an enabling environment for innovation and to create synergies between the role players.

The forum stimulates, supports and promotes innovation in the Nelson Mandela Bay and Cacadu District Municipality areas and works with the provincial government to drive innovation activities in line with provincial priorities.

Established in 2010 and officially launched on March 3 2011, the forum currently comprises 14 local organisations working together to optimise potential. The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, which is part of the forum, has said that innovation is critical to the competitive and economic sustainability of the region.

An enabling environment for innovation speaks directly to the goals of organised business to create a competitive and sustainable future for Nelson Mandela Bay. The forum can play a major role in ensuring all role players are pulling in the same direction.

The Regional Innovation Forum is running a number of projects in identified priority areas, such as access to funding, incubation and industry-academia links.

Access to funding, in particular, is a common thread of frustration and can cripple attempts to commercialise innovations.

However, it is not only funding applicants who have voiced this frustration, but funders too. Funders have noted that the Eastern Cape produces particularly poor applications for funding and therefore the province misses out on innovationrelated funding.

The Regional Innovation Forum is addressing this by reviewing applications made by members of the forum. The forum will contract an experienced service provider to review any draft funding application to any funder, and provide written feedback in terms of suggested amendments to improve individual funding applications.

While only complete draft funding applications are reviewed – the forum will not write the application – the information provided can make a significant difference to the quality and, thus, the likelihood of success.

All service providers are bound by a confidentiality agreement and all information included in funding applications remains highly confidential. The application form to access this assistance is available on the Regional Innovation Forum website at www.innovationeasterncape.co.za.

To improve access to funding even further, the forum has developed a database of public and private sector funders.

The information is all publicly available but is usually dispersed over a number of websites so it is difficult to access the information quickly and easily.

The database is on the forum's website and lists the names, contact details and main qualifying criteria for funding.

The forum is in the process of developing this database into an interactive guide to identify relevant funders for your venture.

The underutilisation of innovation potential is a serious threat to current and future competitiveness. If the goal is economic growth, we must investigate new processes, look into new products and delve into new technologies.

We must focus on productivity, with a forward view to job creation, and in doing so, pave the way to sustainability and prosperity in our region. - Business Conversation, with Jaci Barnett