The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), an entity of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), is entering a new stage for the agency, TIA 2.0, to position the agency at the forefront of innovation and drive economic growth and sustainable development.

Speaking at a media engagement, in Sandton, on June 2, TIA chairperson Loyiso Tyira explained that this was a completely new way of working for the agency, differing from TIA 1.0, by adopting a systems-based approach and a quadruple helix model of innovation, which was cognisant of the fact that a working innovation system required an all-of-society method.

Rather than working in isolation, TIA 2.0 would place the agency as the curator of a national system of innovation, he emphasised.

South Africa was still grappling with the challenges of economic inequality, poverty and unemployment. Despite boasting abundant natural resources, and intellectual capacity with globally renowned research institutions and considerable entrepreneurial talents, the country had not been able to transform this into meaningful industries that could thrive and engender sustainable economic growth and jobs, Tyira pointed out.

He explained that while there were small pockets of excellence, this was not at the requisite scale required for meaningful impact.

The country’s technology White Paper acknowledged that innovation was at the centre of sustainable economic growth, however, there was a gap between policy intent and implementation, Tyira indicated.

He highlighted that TIA 2.0 was borne from the need to address these issues, to allow the country to capitalise on its resources.

TIA CEO Dr Titus Mathe agreed, highlighting that countries that had pivoted from these challenges did so based on innovation.

Providing more insight into TIA 2.0, he explained that work on this new strategy started in 2022, aligned to the DSTI Decadal Plan, and with the aim to position the agency strategically in the national systems of innovation as a curator and thought leader with catalytic high-impact interventions underpinned by a capable organisation, achieving greater socioeconomic impact into the future.

Mathe explained that TIA 1.0 entailed the agency as a funding institution focused on projects, prototypes and compliance. This was characterised by slow, fragmented, silo-based operations, with limited commercialisation and scale-up, heavily dependent on public funding and grappling with operational overload. Success here was measured by activities and compliance.

TIA 1.0 faced considerable complaints of slow turnaround times, Mathe informed.

Therefore, to address the issues alluded to, TIA 2.0 aims to have the agency as the national innovation "orchestrator", focused on impact, industries and growth.

It seeks to be a faster and more integrated, responsive, digitally enabled organisation.

With this, TIA would act a strategic partner and bridge between research and markets, through the quadruple helix model. This is a framework that expands on the traditional triple helix model of innovation, adding the fourth helix of civil society to those of academia, industry and government.

TIA 2.0 seeks to use blended finance and ecosystem collaboration.

TIA will also use funds recovered from a recent R1.2-billion Kapa Biosystems claims settlement to accelerate implementation of TIA 2.0, as well as to strengthen national priority interventions within the national systems of innovation (NIS).

New strategic innovation programmes are focused on critical minerals, climate change, fluorochemicals, hydrogen innovation and low chill apples.

TIA 2.0 would be undertaken in a three-phased approach, with the consolidate phase underway since last year, running through to 2027. This would be followed by the growth phase from 2028 to 2030, and then the scaling phase from 2031 to 2035.

As part of the work to ensure equitable access to technology and the agency’s innovation support, TIA 2.0 will host more engagements and roadshows, and build on its inaugural South African innovation week held in March, where several initiatives were launched.

Moreover, TIA  is planning to go deep into the rural areas, working with its partners, and offering services in local languages, with this TIA 2.0 aiming to reach innovators in more of the underserved communities.

A range of innovators also shared their success stories on the day, highlighting how TIA’s support has enabled them to develop and curate their ideas.

This included Pelebox, a company using the Internet of Things to securely dispense pre-packaged chronic medication to patients in local healthcare facilities in under two minutes. TIA supported the company from the idea phase, enabling it to pilot the first secure smart locker in a clinic in Mamelodi.

Pelebox has since grown to cover eight provinces, and is also targeting entering the remaining Western Cape. Moreover, it now serves over 130 public facilities, and has achieved over 2.3-million parcels collected, attendees heard.

TIA also supported the company in taking this solution cross-border to Namibia, where, working with the Ministry of Health, Pelebox now serves 20 hospitals in the country.

TIA is also supporting a burgeoning innovation, Mzansi Mindz, which is aiming to launch a local AI large language model (LLM), to tackle the issues of data sovereignty, as well as allow all of the local languages to be built in, and account for local cultural characteristics.  

Set to launch in the next few months, this would initially be offered for free in the pilot phase, and then at a cheaper rate than subscription services for global LLMs like ChatGPT.

TIA has approved R61.8-million funding over three years for this, to support the development of local AI infrastructure, platforms and innovation capacity to strengthen the country’s technological sovereignty, build domestic capability and enable public interest application of AI across the country.