This year’s edition of the SA Innovation Summit sees the organisers partner with the Swiss Startup Summit and the Swiss Embassy in a bid to develop ties between the two nations.
The SA Innovation Summit aims to provide a platform for South African and African innovators to showcase their ideas and innovations, network with other local entrepreneurs, and be matched with potential investors.
This year’s edition sees a series of events take place in Cape Town and Ekurhuleni, before the final summit is held in Gauteng on September 21-21. In preparation, the organisers have signed an official partnership with the Swiss Startup Summit and collaborated with the Swiss Embassy as the major international partner.
Value is expected to be added from both sides in the form of knowledge exchange and network expansion, with two roundtables to focus on market trends in Europe and South Africa in terms of nanotechnology and green innovations.
The SA Venture Leaders, a programme co-hosted by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and the University of Basel, will also have the opportunity to showcase at the summit, linking into a match and invest platform that facilitate the raising of funds with the right types of commercial innovations from South Africa.
SA Innovation Summit director Dr Audrey Verhaeghe said the partnership is expected to support local innovators by providing global inspiration, knowledge, systems and funding.
“The ultimate goal of the Innovation Summit this year is innovation acceleration – scaling and impact for SA-owned ideas,” she said.
“What better way to help us bring this vision to life, than to partner with Switzerland, the world’s leading country in terms of innovation?”
