OVERVIEW
ICT French technology has come to Cape Town
A
new technology venture was launched when Cape Town hosted AfricArena 2017, a conference that aimed to be a “bridge between international technology stalwarts and African technology innovators”. A collaboration between Silicon Cape and La French Tech Cape Town, it brought together investors, venture capitalists, start-ups and entrepreneurs. The French government has officially designated the city as one of six global French Tech Hubs. Other hubs include Tokyo and San Francisco. French Tech Labs was launched as a fintech incubator at Century City in 2016. The same company earlier established Methys Labs. The new incubator offers mentoring support for innovators, connections to possible investors and a chance for selected candidates to travel to France. News of a R613-million investment by Dutch seed company Enza Zaden helped earn Stellenbosch a ranking of third among African cities in fDi Intelligence’s study of global biotech locations. The Dutch investors created Westcape Biotech in a joint venture with Expressive Research, a biotechnological company that works on cell culture and molecular diagnostics. Stellenbosch also has a strong suite in satellite technology. One of the winners in the annual Premier’s Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards in 2016 was Stellenbosch-based Praelexis, a data company. NewSpace Systems, a satellite start-up from Somerset West, was another winner. Stellenbosch University has a company, Innovus, which deals in technology transfer and development of inventions. Another popular area with new technology is fintech. Most major banks are feeling pressure from new companies who can connect with customers without having to build bricks and mortar infrastructure. They are responding by spending heavily on innovation. Barclays Bank have invested in a fintech incubator in Cape Town, Rise. There are six other Rise sites around the world, including New York and Mumbai.
ONLINE RESOURCES Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative: www.citi.org.za French South African Tech Labs: fsatlabs.co.za Independent Communications Authority: www.icasa.org.za Silicon Cape: www.siliconcape.com State Information Technology Agency: www.sita.co.za
121
SECTOR INSIGHT • Stellenbosch and satellites are synonymous.
It was a banking application (app) that won the IT Challenge presented by Standard Bank in 2015. Three students from the University of the Western Cape created a voice-activated online banking app which they called EasyBank. A group of entrepreneurs, investors and developers has created the non-profit Silicon Cape Initiative to support the sector. One of its groups, the Startup Group, has 425 members and it offers advice and support. The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) is another support system for the ICT sector. It runs three programmes, The Bandwidth Barn, VeloCiTi (enterprise and entrepreneur development) and Capaciti (tech skills and job placement). There are 2 000 ICT firms in the Western Cape and they have 17 000 employees. WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018