City of Johannesburg innovation fund winner concepts to be patented and commercialised by UJ’s Resolution Circle.

Date: May 25, 2016 | News

​​​​The 17 winners of the 2016 Jozi My Beginning Innovation Fund Competition, with CEO of Resolution Circle Prof Willem Clarke, UJ (third from left, front row); and City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor, Cllr Parks Tau (fourth from left, front row) at Resolution Circle in Milpark on 19 April 2016.

On Tuesday 19 March, the City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor, Cllr Parks Tau, announced the top 17 innovators who successfully competed in the City of Johannesburg’s Jozi My Beginning Innovation Fund Competition in 2016 at the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Resolution Circle in Milpark, Johannesburg.

In the previous months, Resolution Circle, the technology development company of the University, worked with entrants in the competition, administering the event, evaluating their submissions and shortlisting candidates. By the closing date, 2003 submissions had been received.

The winners of the competition will have their ideas patented, funded and commercialised by Resolution Circle. The company will mentor the winners to develop their concepts further and demonstrate them to the City of Johannesburg, with potential procurement by the City in the future, says Prof Willem Clarke, CEO of Resolution Circle.

The intellectual property of the winning concepts will be protected and will remain with the individual or company that submitted it to the competition.

The winners as well as a further 18 entrants will receive training and business development support. The support value of the 35 projects will be just over R7.2 million.

Jozi My Beginning is a R50-million community innovation fund and an extension of Jozi@Work. Jozi My Beginning explores innovative ideas from Johannesburg residents and other community-based enterprises, in line with the City’s drive to partner with communities in the delivery of municipal services effectively and efficiently.

The criteria in Jozi My Beginning competition included innovation, economic empowerment of the impacted communities, alignment with the green/blue economy and smart city principles.

Jozi@Work is a co-production programme designed so that communities partner with the City in the delivery of municipal services. These services include energy, waste management, water and sanitation, greening services, road and transport infrastructure, construction and maintenance, ICT and digital services, business and urban management support, agriculture and food resilience.​