Episode 7: Funding and Support

Synopsis

The seventh part of the 13-part Summit TV series on intellectual property looks at funding and support with McLean Sibanda from the Innovation Fund.

Transcript

The seventh part of the 13 part Summit TV series on intellectual property looks at funding and support with McLean Sibanda from the Innovation Fund.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: Welcome to the Intellectual Property Show on Summit TV. Today we look at what funding and support is available for practicing intellectual property management. For more clarity on the matter I’m joined in the studio by McLean Sibanda from the Innovation Fund. McLean, what is the Innovation Fund and what role do you play in the innovation space?

McLEAN SIBANDA: The Innovation Fund was set up by the Department of Science & Technology to fund technological innovation in South Africa. The focus is on South African novel technologies which have national benefit - and which can contribute to economic growth. In some cases we also look at technologies that don’t necessarily have commercial outcomes but can have societal outcomes as well. The role that I play within the Innovation Fund is I head up the intellectual property (IP) management office that’s responsible for providing IP management expertise to the Innovation Fund - and also to some of the publicly funded institutions in the country.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: So the value that you are adding and the role that you play extends to everyone in South Africa?

McLEAN SIBANDA: We work very closely with all the universities and science councils. That has become very important in today’s knowledge economy - to ensure that maximum value is extracted out of the research that’s conducted at the universities.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: So no more doing research for the sake of research - we want to get to the societal and economic benefits…

McLEAN SIBANDA: Absolutely. However, having said that there is a place for basic research - because applied research can’t just exist in isolation. You need basic research to feed into applied research.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: The instruments that support that are the National Research Foundation (NRF) and so on…

McLEAN SIBANDA: Yes. The NRF in essence funds the early part of the value chain in terms of basic fundamental research. The Innovation Fund looks more downstream in terms of being closer to the market - therefore the technologies that are funded by the Innovation Fund in essence are technologies that have some application in industry and society.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: You’ve done your own research in terms of understanding the motivation behind the urgency for us to look after commercialising and getting that societal impact from all public-funded research - can you tell us a little bit about the outcome of your research and some of the findings?

McLEAN SIBANDA: The study is published in the Innovation Fund publication called “The State of Patenting in South Africa.” We’ve just launched that in Bloemfontein. The outcome of that reveals the bulk of the patenting in South Africa is done by the private sector - public funded institutions contribute only about 5% of the patenting that’s done in South Africa. When we say patenting done in South Africa we also mean patenting done by South Africans abroad. The study looked at patent applications filed at the European Patent Office, the PCT in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. What we found was Sasol and what used to be De Beers Industrial Diamonds (now Element Six) contributed significantly to the patent portfolios in South Africa. The CSIR is a strong contender in terms of the top patenting companies in South Africa. Having said that what we found was the universities had twelve patents granted over a period of 15 years out of about two 2,052 patents granted at the European Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: Obviously if you think about the universities they’re huge institutions with the capability to patent being so large - and secondly they receive a lot of public money - so 12 or 15 patents over that long period of time is quite shocking…

McLEAN SIBANDA: Yes, the numbers are very low. If one looks at it there’s a whole lot of factors. I think the major factor for such a low patenting rate is the incentives at universities are based on publications - so the more you publish the more chances you have of promotion. Also, the subsidies are for lecturers - and the funding of universities is also based on the number of publications. The message that we’ve taken out to the publicly funded institutions after this particular report is that patenting and publishing can be done at the same time. We have to assess the commercial value of the invention and if there’s and application we can protect it and publish it.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: You speak about this message that you are bringing across - that’s very much in line with government’s message that they want to transform South Africa into a knowledge-based economy. How is that commitment transformed into practical support measures to support the innovator? I’m an entrepreneur wanting to patent or I’m a researcher wanting to patent - what kind of support can I expect from government?

McLEAN SIBANDA: There’s more and more instruments government has set up - if we start off by looking simply at the Innovation Fund there’s now a patent support fund for small and medium enterprises. So the entrepreneur that has a brilliant idea but requires funding for the patent and some money for prototype development - they can approach the Innovation Fund. The money will be either in equity or in the form of a loan - we will structure something. We provide value both to the entrepreneur - also a return to the public purse.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: Also, Trevor Manuel Minister of Finance made the announcement last year of a 150% tax rebate for research and development - how do you see that impacting on the creation of more South African intellectual property, more patents and creating more patent portfolios internationally?

McLEAN SIBANDA: I think that should actually contribute significantly. If you look at countries like Korea, India and China there’s been increases in terms of the amount of R&D there - and with the increase in the amount of R&D there’s an increase in patenting and intellectual property and the know-how that’s generated. What we’ve seen in the Asian Tigers is growth in their economies. I think the message that the government is putting out there is that we need to spend more on R&D - and in spending more on R&D we need to focus on growing the knowledge economy.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: This comes from all angles - for example the Department of Trade & Industry programmes to support industrial innovation - do you see that benefit coming through?

McLEAN SIBANDA: Absolutely. The Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (Spiii) is a very good programme and there’s also Thripp that’s run through the NRF but is really a DTI programme which also looks at funding human resources development - with a focus again in terms of technology.

STEPHAN LAMPRECHT: There is a very positive message coming forward - basically you’re positioning to help people and facilitate these kind of opportunities.

McLEAN SIBANDA: Absolutely. Government is very committed - and it’s not only the Department of Science & Technology but various departments including the Department of Health, Education and the DTI.

www.innovationfund.co.za

Next week: Intellectual property and future energy solutions.