World Creativity and Innovation Day – how Durban is part of the solution

WORLD Creativity and Innovation Day is an awareness day designated by the United Nations. Celebrated annually on April 21, this day serves to raise awareness of the role of creativity and innovation in all aspects of human development.

In line with this theme, we asked Innovate Durban CEO Aurelia Albert what makes an idea innovative and how technology comes into play.

Innovate Durban is a registered non-profit company that supports innovation through programmes, research, capacity building and skills development.

“Our mandate is very simple – to support innovators from concept to commercialisation,” said Albert.

So what is an innovator and how do we define ‘innovation’?

“In some cases, innovation is coming up with something totally new, but often it’s as simple as changing a small part of a system that will save time and money – identifying a gap and creating something or changing something that would add value,” explained Alberts.

Related news: Technology at its finest at Innovate Durban Pitching Den

While technology plays a part in innovation, Alberts noted that it does not define it.

“Technology is not innovation, but it is an enabler to innovation,” she said.

Innovate Durban recently hosted 15 innovators at the Innovate Durban Pitching Den where they had a chance to pitch their innovative ideas to a panel of judges.

In first place, winning R50K, was Senele Goba, founder of 4IR Innovations. Her work in industrial automation feeds her work in innovative education. Goba creates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) resources and visits schools to share her knowledge. She built a Spark Board to help children learn how circuits work.

Commenting on Goba’s work, Alberts said it was a perfect example of innovation.

“[Goba] created an interactive game that children can use – what she’s done is very innovative. She is using a game, done in an interactive way, to engage learners and make learning fun because children identify with games,” explained Alberts.

She added that innovation is often found when simple ideas are combined.

“Innovation is not the same as invention. Innovation is addressing a niche or market within a community that adds value to the user where a specific offering does not exist yet,” said Alberts.

Another innovator who attended the Innovate Durban Pitching Den was Landile Mabele, who pitched his warehouse automation concept along with team members from Ariel Robotics. The system uses drone technology to automate stock-taking.

Related news: Technology at its finest at Innovate Durban Pitching Den

“It’s not the drone nor the automated system that’s innovative, but the fact that these elements were combined,” explained Alberts.

So where do we need more innovation locally?

Alberts noted several gaps in KwaZulu-Natal systems that would benefit from innovative ideas.

“Load-shedding is a perfect example – we have an energy crisis on our hands. We also have issues with water contamination and a major problem with our sewerage system where people have been unable to swim at local beaches. It is a problem that needs to be solved,” said Alberts, adding that these sorts of problems could have been avoided with early warning systems.

“There is always so much room for innovation,” she concluded.

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