As Cape Town officially submits its bid to be World Design Capital in 2014 this week, there is a gathering momentum around CPUT’s involvement in a proposed design and informatics hub in the East City. With government and industry partners raring to go, CPUT’s Faculty of Informatics and Design (FID) are helping to spearhead the drive to create The Fringe: Cape Town’s Innovation District.
An area in which design and innovation can flourish, The Fringe will give credence to the university’s mission – to be at the heart of technology education and innovation in Africa. Reporting directly to FID Dean, Prof Johannes Cronje, on this project is Associate Professor of Informatics, Shaun Pather. One of Pathers' roles within the FID is to make strategic partnerships a reality, thereby bridging the all-important gap between research and innovation. Pather is passionate about The Fringe, saying, “CPUT is involved because teaching and research does not and should not happen in a vacuum. We can’t innovate in a vacuum, we need to be more closely aligned to our Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Media and Design industry partners, many of whom are already right here in our 'back yard'. We therefore see ourselves as a key partner in making The Fringe a reality.”
Pather is quick to emphasise the “triple-helix” of stakeholders driving the initiative – a coalition of academe, industry and government/civil society. ”The Fringe is a Cape Catalyst Initiative, a unit that recognises the importance of various creative industries to grow our provincial economy, and is supported by Provincial Government. The project is managed by the City’s Cape Town Partnership, with CPUT forming the third strand of the helix driving the creation of The Fringe.”
According to Prof Cronje, “As a key partner, we’re proposing our own contribution to the Fringe – the CPUT Design Park and Innovation Hub (DPIH). The intention is to create a business “design-park” model, a space in which everybody comes to play. We envisage an iconic architectural point, so that when people look at Table Mountain, they too will see this visionary creation. Right now we feel that our Cape Town campus has its back turned to the city. But the DPIH will change all that, becoming a space in which all higher education institutes, industry and civil society can share.”
An opportunity for CPUT to consolidate existing initiatives in the Design, ICT, Media and Business disciplines, the Design Park is fully supported by Executive Management, and institutionally is under the stewardship of Dr Chris Nhlapo, DVC Innovation, Research & Partnerships. It is hoped the project will position CPUT as a lead regional University, stimulate and manage the flow of knowledge and technology to companies and markets, and create opportunities to take research output to innovation stages. In addition, senior students will reap the benefits of being nurtured into design entrepreneurs, while the incubation and start-up of small and micro innovation-based companies can be fostered.
Cape Town will know by the end of June 2011 whether it has been shortlisted as a candidate for World Design Capital 2014, and by October this year whether its bid has been successful. While the development of The Fringe isn’t dependent on the successful outcome of the bid, it does add impetus to activities driving its creation.
“It’s ambitious,” says Pather, “but it’s do-able. And its aims and goals underpin President Jacob Zuma’s recent State of the Nation speech, which focused heavily on job creation. At the heart of job creation is knowledge production and innovation, which underscores the University’s mission, and the goals of government more broadly.”
By Jan Weintrob.
Written by CPUT News
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