The Business Innovation and Incubation Centre (BIIC) was recently joined by entrepreneurs, innovators, and potential stakeholders to celebrate innovation and entrepreneurship at the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre.

BIIC and numerous presenters took the audience through the world of innovation, as they presented a curated selection of groundbreaking projects nurtured within the BIIC. The attendees met the visionaries behind these ventures, connected with industry experts, and the innovators explored sponsorship and collaboration opportunities. For many it was an opportunity to discover the future of entrepreneurship and creating partnerships that drive innovation.

The aim of the event was to showcase to the University community and BIIC stakeholders, the ideas of CPUT students that have been innovated by the Centre and about to be incubated and become start-ups and its goal was to attract more students, investors, partners, technology mentors and coaches.

In her opening remarks, Assistant Dean: Research and Innovation, Prof Renitha Rampersad, said the BIIC is an entity which is aimed at producing and growing sustainable innovative technologically driven startups or small businesses from identified and promising business concepts of students and/or graduates either from research outputs or capstone projects and providing the necessary resources and support to help these startups grow and thrive on a University Campus.

Rampersad stated that the showcase offered a unique opportunity to learn about the creative activities and developments taking place at CPUT and to gain insights into cutting-edge projects that will help shape the future and celebrate the amazing innovation and entrepreneurship activities and “off course it is all thanks to the BIIC”. “We are living in a period of rapid change driven by innovation and technology and such change is due to our digital natives, these young men and women, surrounding you today who are well exposed to technologies and the knowledge economy, social platforms and the world wide web, and who are dedicated to discovering the future of entrepreneurship and creating partnerships that drive innovation.”

She said the technologies to be developed through BIIC by students and young entrepreneurs will accelerate the development and success of startups where BIIC provides a structured and supportive environment that maximises their chances of becoming successful, sustainable businesses.

Director: Technology Transfer & Industry Linkages, Dr Revel Iyer, who was a guest speaker, touched on the unemployment rate in South Africa, entrepreneurship in higher education, the startup support structures and many more topics. The head of BIIC, Prof Michael Twum-Darko, who is also the mentor, said: “The highlight to me was how far these students have come – from day one that they couldn’t even articulate what they want to do pitching their businesses humbled me. Some of these students come from rural areas and township who dreamt of solutions to addressing societal problems.”

Since its establishment, Twum-Darko said the challenges at BIIC have been manoeuvring through institutional policies to establish partnerships, collaboration and to raise funds for the activities of the Centre. He said the success has been the students’ projects some of which were showcased which will make them becoming employers instead of employees with their degrees from CPUT.

He also expects more students’ participation, improved relationship, and support from institutional structures for the “sake of the students and non-students’ ideas from communities in and round Western Cape”.

Rampersad added: “To our Innovators, it is great to see young people like you all taking the future into your own hands, with the fresh perspectives and fearlessness that the world needs. The imagination and energy you bring makes every difference in the global adherence to the Sustainable Development Goals. And your impact is especially great to the future we are already adapting to.

Today is a celebration of CPUT's newest innovators and entrepreneurs. Well done to each of you-you have the potential to achieve great things.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce

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The Language Working Group recently hosted a two-day Pan South African Language Board (Panslab) Multilingual Pedagogies Workshop for CPUT staff and students at the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre.

This workshop served the purpose of this year’s annual institutional Language Indaba. The Institutional Language Coordinator at Fundani CHED, Dr Kabelo Sebolai, who welcomed the guests said the workshop was part of the effort to implement CPUT’s policy of multilingualism. “It was aimed at both students and lecturers who are involved in teaching. The decision to run the workshop was informed by a recognition that content lecturers and student tutors are not experts in using language to teach content in a multilingual context such as that of CPUT,” Sebolai noted.

He said the policy could not be implemented effectively in the learning and teaching space “if this kind of training is not provided”.

In her opening remarks, Dr Xena Cupido, Director: Fundani CHED, said: “As we gather to explore the critical importance of multilingual pedagogies in ensuring access to higher education, I am excited about the enriching discussions ahead. In a country as diverse as South Africa, language is more than a tool for communication – it is a bridge that connects us to knowledge, understanding, and inclusivity. Multilingual pedagogies, therefore, are key to making higher education accessible and equitable for all our students, honouring their cultural and linguistic identities.”

Cupido also welcomed the two guest speakers, who facilitated the workshop. Those were: Tholakele Nkwanyana, a lecturer in Language Education: Multilingual Pedagogies at North-West University (NWU). The PhD candidate’s research focuses on the intellectualisation of African languages in higher education. She is also an isiZulu Commissioner for the African Union: Academy of Languages.

Meanwhile, Prof Rosemary Wildsmith-Cromarty is an Applied Linguist and Professor Emeritus at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Wildsmith-Cromarty is currently coordinating research on multilingual pedagogies at NWU. She has served on provincial and national language bodies for isiZulu and English respectively and is on the Editorial Board for Language Teaching: Surveys and Studies.

The topics that were discussed on day one ranged from Introduction to Language Policy and Planning, Language History and Portraits, Multilingualism and Translanguaging.

Day two started with a recap from day one followed by discussions on Deconstructing Concepts, Building Resources - examples from lecturers, and then Creating tools for multilingual pedagogies by Nkwanyana and Wildsmith-Cromarty.

Sebolai was impressed by the debate resulting from the controversial nature of language policies. “The event was a success indeed. Everybody, including the facilitators, felt that the event was a success. The post-workshop evaluation bears testimony to this.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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