'Think like inventors' South Africans told
ahead of biotechnology innovation conference
By Carol Campbell
South Africans need to think like inventors, develop the confidence to come
up with new ideas and do their homework on assessing markets to see if an idea
is viable.
Senior patent attorney McLean Sibanda and intellectual property specialist
Anu Idicula, from the Innovation Fund, said too many South Africans, including
the university educated, thought of “getting a job” rather than “creating a
job”.
“It’s all about changing one’s mindset,” said Idicula, a biochemist turned
patenting specialist.
“If you are doing an engineering degree it shouldn’t be about which firm you
will work for but your fresh perspectives and new ideas. It’s out-of-the-box
thinking and novel ideas that ultimately create jobs.”
McLean Sibanda, Innovation Fund patenting attorney, said new ideas that lead
to marketable inventions would enable the country to become a player in the
global “knowledge economy” boosting foreign investment and creating jobs.
“Our problem is that the country's patenting rates have remained stagnant for
the past 10 years.”
He explained how a 2007 Innovation Fund study on the state of patenting in the
country found that about half of patent applications were filed by foreign
applicants.
“This is a direct indication of the low participation of South Africans in
science and technology development.”
Idicula and Sibanda were speaking ahead of the Bio2Biz conference scheduled
for Durban from September 20 to 23. Bio2Biz is a South African forum that
enables the biotechnology industry and the business community to identify
opportunities where they can work together. Participating organisations include
the Innovation Fund, BioPad, Cape Biotech, eGoli Bio, LIFElab and PlantBio.
“The development and protection of knowledge is crucial if South African
companies are to become globally competitive,” Idicula said.
One of the biggest problems for the Innovation Fund were ideas that were not
properly researched. “There is very little that hasn’t been thought of already
yet inventors don’t research the history of their ‘new’ idea.” A basic Internet
search, she said, often turned up similar inventions.
“ Inevitably somebody has tried out an idea before and, if it hasn’t worked,
the big question to ask is ‘why not?’”
The most successful innovations were thoroughly researched and targeted at a
receptive market, she stressed.
Good ideas needed protecting, Sibanda added, in a way that would ensure
competitive advantage.
“We need to be less risk averse and more forgiving of failure if we are going to
make our mark as a country of great inventors. Let’s become a culture that
celebrates innovative thinking.”
Bio2Biz SA is being held in conjunction with the South African Microbiology
conference and delegates will have the benefit of registering once but being
able to attend joint sessions and share evening functions.
The Intellectual Property session at the conference will include
presentations on:
“Developments in Local University-Industry relationships – success story” by
Alan Lewis from Adams and Adams; “Regulatory considerations related to funding
start ups” by Anthony van Zantwijk from Sibanda and Zantwijk; “Publically
financed research and development” by McLean Sibanda from the Innovation Fund;
and “Commercialisation of Intellectual Property in the Public Sector” by Puri
Kamal, director of the Queensland, Australia Department of Primary Industry and
Fisheries.
More information:
http://www.bio2biz.org/
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Role of women in science up for debate at SA's Bio2Biz conference
Imbalances in the number of women working in science professions, their
distribution in certain fields of science and the role they play in
technological innovations in South Africa will be some of the topics to top the
agenda at the upcoming Bio2Biz conference taking place in Durban from September
20 to 23.
The conference is a workshop involving some of the country’s leading
bioscience & biotechnology brains together with business leaders who will be
looking at ways to develop partnerships between these two worlds.
Organising organisations include the Innovation Fund, BioPAD, Cape Biotech,
eGoliBIO, LIFElab and PlantBio.
Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, Chair of SAWISE (Association of South
African Women in Science and Engineering) said this week that although the
number of women in science was increasing, there were still “a huge number of
problems” that needed to be surpassed.
“Women still tend to be employed at lower ranks and more often than not, they
tend to be on contract positions,” she said.
The “dire” shortage of black women in the sciences needed to be “actively
addressed” as did the shortage of women in the “hard” sciences of engineering,
mathematics and physics.
Dr Maritha Kotze, founder of Gknowmix, a company that endeavours to make
genetic research applicable to every day healthcare, said women brought
different strengths to science.
“Women are by nature more inclusive in their dealings with people and this
can lead to greater partnerships and more fruitful relationships in science,”
she said.
In her experience, she said, men could be “very protective” of their projects
which limited opportunities for partnerships.
“There has to be a balance,” she said, “A woman’s ability to handle
relationships and be more inclusive when dealing with a project is sometimes
considered to be a weakness by scientists. In reality this kind of ability can
lead to new partnerships and growth for a project.”
Kotze will be one of the speakers at the Bio2Biz conference where she will
give more insight into her field of genomic research made accessible for all
health care practitioners.
Zoleke Ngcete, Manager of the SA Malaria Initiative, and also scheduled to
speak at Bio2Biz, says “There is a shortage of scientists in this country and we
therefore need to increase our pool of talented scientists.”
Efforts to encourage the youth to consider science professions need not be
gender specific, she says. “We need to support young people who are interested
in science careers irrespective of their gender”.
University of Cape Town biotechnologist, Shane Murray, said opportunities for
women scientists were growing, especially for scholarships to study overseas.
“Women appear to have conquered life sciences but there are still too few in
fields like physics and engineering,” she said echoing Chinsamy-Turan.
“There are a lot of younger women scientists coming up through the ranks
though and this is encouraging.”
More information:
 The Women in
Bio Business session will be held on Monday September 21 and will include a
presentation by Dr Elizabeth Freeman who is the Executive Director of Legacy
Direct Inc. and Senior Advisor for Fellows Program at the Biotechnology
Institute , Dr Sibongile Gumbi who is the Managing Director of Smart Innovation,
and Dr Maretha Kotze, the MD of Gknowmix.
http://www.bio2biz.org/
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