The Durban University of Technology has won the bi-Annual National Innovation Competition (NIC) hosted by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) which was held for the first time at the newly built state-of-the-art Moses Mabhida Stadium, Kwa-Zulu Natal, beating top universities nationwide.

Working hand-in-hand with government, the National Innovation Competition aims to improve the lives of South Africans by helping individuals with innovative ideas to enter the corporate world and contribute to its positive growth. This is done by investing in technological innovations and providing Intellectual Property (IP) support to South Africans seeking Intellectual Property Protection (IPP) for their innovative ideas/ innovations under the TIA.

The TIA, which is viewed as one of the biggest innovation agencies from around the country, was established in terms of the TIA Act, 2008 (Act No. 26 of 2008), with an objective of setting up a public entity with the aim to enhance the country’s capacity to translate a greater proportion of local research and development into commercial technology products and services. This agency also informs organisations of their support when establishing new enterprises and the expansion of existing industrial sectors to their benefit. However this year taking the “Best Stand Award” was one of DUT’S Mechanical Engineering Masters Degree Students , Mr. Festus Maina Mwangi who took the judges by storm with his innovative idea; eFeM System (Impact Energy Management System). Mwangi competed amongst more than twenty universities nationwide.

Mwangi describes the eFeM System as a modular, granular-medium-based Impact Energy Management System for Low-to-Medium Velocity Impacts. It can be packaged into, among other end-user products, Automotive Bumpers, Toll-gate Crash Barriers, and Impacts-Insulation for Traffic-Robot-Posts.

Speaking at the NIC awards day, Mwangi said that he was not expecting to win any prize because he felt that his invention needed more work but was honoured to have walked away with the best stand award. “Winning the best stand Award in the Innovation Competition serves as proof that DUT is a leading University of Technology and shows that we (DUT students ) have the potential to transform and be at the helm in this field. “I must also admit that without the financial assistance from the Technology Transfer and Innovation (TTI) Department at DUT, entering this competition would have not been a success”, he said.

Director of TTI, Professor Gerhard Prinsloo said that the TTI department has entered DUT into the higher education competition due to the fact that in 2008, the university won two coveted awards, one of them being voted as the most innovative newcomer and the other for being ranked amongst the top ten best innovative Higher Education Institutes in South Africa. It has also been said that the establishment of the TTI Directorate signaled a strategic change by the university’s management to find a new way of attracting funding in the present economic climate of dwindling state subsidies, stagnant fee contributions and increasing cost services. Professor Prinsloo further added that “TTI’s vision of assisting the University to establish itself as a leading University of Technology in driving and promoting technology and innovation within the country has been achieved.”