Professor Wim de Villiers
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Professor Wim de Villiers
- 1. GOING GLOBAL 2018 (Session 2.5) How can HEIs develop entrepreneurship to meet diverse economic need? • Different approaches to embedding entrepreneurship in the learning experience? And which ones work well? • Do entrepreneurial programmes generate new entrepreneurial companies? What’s the reality? • How do government interventions help (or not help)? • As businesses become more mobile and internationally connected, can start be both mobile and international? Session Chair: Prof Wim de Villiers, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Stellenbosch University
- 3. Stellenbosch University • Ranked among the top 400 universities in the world • > 30 000 students • 33% are postgraduate • > 4300 international students from > 100 countries • Research intensive university • 10 Faculties on 5 campuses • > 1000 academic staff
- 5. Characteristics of great universities High quality & relevant research Strong programmes & research teams Number of employable graduates Successful postgraduates Impact on society
- 6. The changing role of universities Teaching Research Innovation Knowledge Regions • Graduates • Graduates • Publications • IP • Graduates • Publications Industry Researchers Entrepreneurs
- 8. The vision: Creating Knowledge Regions in Africa
- 9. Knowledge Regions: Critical mass of spin-off companies Attract entrepreneurs Attract VCs and angel investors Attract multinationals
- 10. Africa is Opportunity! • Africa has 15% of the world’s population and is the second most populated continent • The world’s youngest continent: 60% of the population is younger than 25 • 150 million in African middle class (2010) will increase to 490 million by 2040 with 16 of the 26 fastest-growing economies globally being African, but growth has been uneven with a large number of Africans being excluded from the benefits of growth • African Union research publication output grew by 43% compared to the world average of 18% (Scopus 2015) Sources: Wikipedia, African Development Bank
- 11. A Case Study
- 12. Stellenbosch University: leading innovation in SA Source: World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) website
- 13. Impact of SU Group of Companies • Value of university shareholding in companies > R100m • In 2017 a combined turnover of R 221 m (most are still in startup phase) • Employ 259 people • New services and products that involve • Access to healthcare; • Food security; • Energy and water savings; • Renewable Energy; etc
- 14. Our responsibility: Patenting Licensing Spin-off companiesProduct development
- 15. 15 Accelerate entrepreneurs to a new level • Focus on the entrepreneur • Network of campus-based incubators across Africa • Facilitate the growth of the start-up ecosystem
- 16. Stellenbosch University Nedbank LaunchLab • Established a campus-based business incubator for startup companies • 3 Types of companies • University companies (established by Innovus, the technology transfer entity) • Student ventures • Startups that come from outside the university • LaunchLab supports entrepeneurs • Shared space • Likeminded people • Training and programmes • Mentoring and Coaching • Access to network • Assist to find investors etc • Support with “business fitness assessments”
- 17. Stellenbosch University Nedbank LaunchLab • Opened in August 2013 • Innovus (Stellenbosch University’s technology transfer entity) owns the LaunchLab • Received funding from industry and the state to establish the LaunchLab • Have supported 123 companies to date, which involved 329 jobs, of which 93 are newly created jobs • Have assisted startup companies to raise R76m in 2016 • Work closely with large corporates to match their needs and challenges with innovations within the startup network – this takes place on a national basis and the LaunchLab runs this programme on 7 university campuses
- 18. LaunchLab Verticals Payments & Big Data Paid Media Cleantech Agritech Education
- 20. Towards a Knowledge Region • Through the LaunchLab, Stellenbosch University widened its access to and support for entrepreneurs significantly and broke down the barriers of working with entrepreneurs • Startup activity was stimulated on our own campus and we saw a sharp rise in researchers wanting to start new companies to commercialise their research output • The Western Cape region has also become the startup hub in South Africa with more Venture Capital deals and startup numbers than Gauteng, as is evident from the graph below: Source: SAVCA 2015 Venture Capital Survey
- 21. Going forward • Innovation and the appropriate application of existing technologies underpin rising living standards through improved economic productivity, faster private sector development and job-creation as well as improvements in political governance. Innovation and the application of appropriate technologies help: • create better-paying jobs and lower operating costs and lead to urban rejuvenation in the face of Africa’s rapid urbanisation. Improved Internet connectivity and transportation means SMEs can be located almost anywhere and so urban areas are able to create new jobs • create wealth in Africa’s informal sector and outside of the continent’s traditional mining and oil sectors. This is necessary if African economies are to diversify • Universities in Africa can play a significant role in stimulating and supporting entrepreneurs to become economic growth agents in their regions, starting and growing ventures
- 22. Contents www.sun.ac.za vc@sun.ac.za Thanks for your time. Let’s stay connected
Editor's Notes
- There are many great universities in Africa. The contribution universities make to society is becoming far more important than ever before in our history. Universities can no longer afford to be isolated ivory towers, but the impact we make on society is of critical importance and universities are increasingly tasked with a role to prepare next generations to have greater economical freedom.
- If a university spins out a number of startup companies this activity attracts entrepreneurs from outside the university to set up their companies near the university. This, in turn, attracts venture capitalists and other investors and infrastructure (such as business incubators) to support these young fledgling companies from both the university and other entrepreneurs are set up. Lastly, large corporates and multinational companies establish a presence in this region to gain access to the pool of innovations. These companies often find it difficult to innovate internally and acquire their innovations and game changing technologies from outside their corporate walls. Eventually, they start funding more research and investing in the hub of this knowledge region, namely the university. Examples of where this has happened include Cambridge, Brainport in the Netherlands, Silicon Valley in the USA. Silicon Valley was not created by investors, but came about when two universities on different ends of the valley (Berkeley and Stanford) kickstarted entrepreneurial activity through their own spinout companies and through interacting with entrepreneurs from outside the university.
- On the screen, I present a few interesting statistics about our continent. I want to point out that 60% of the people on this continent are younger than 25. This fact has significant consequences for higher education in Africa. Africa also has the second largest workforce in the world, but there is a critical shortage of jobs.
- Technology Transfer to take innovation and develop it, and commercialise it is often a long process
- Although anyone can apply for support from the LaunchLab, it has a number of broad focus areas which are also aligned with university research areas.