Innovation and Technology Funding instruments

The Innovation Funding and Pre-Commercialisation Support Division Assists with Innovation and Funding Technology Instruments

The Innovation Funding and Pre-Commercialisation Support (IFPCS) Division supports the development and exploitation of technology innovations by enabling and facilitating the conversion of technology ideas into enterprises. This is done by the funding the development of technology and the preparation of the technologies developed for commercialisation or use.

The innovation and funding technology instruments strive to de-risk technological innovations as they mature through the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) scale. Once the concept for a technology idea has been proven and the application assessed and approved, the IFPCS Division provides financial support to the technology development using the Technology Development Fund (TDF) for further development or the Commercialisation Support Fund (CSF) for projects that have been demonstrated and are now ready and participate in the market. All funded projects are monitored during and after development while providing other non-financial support which varies from project to project. Non-financial support may include linking TIA funded companies with other funders such as the IDC to fully commercialise their technologies. The IFPCS Division seeks to drive the following initiatives in a bid to strengthen the programmes offering:

• Upstream integration;
• Downstream integration;
• Concurrent innovation;
• Development of new funding instruments; and
• Patent Maintenance Support Fund (PMSF).

The IFPCS Division has various business units that respond to the biotechnology sector in supporting technology development. The sub-programmes’ activities are aligned to key DST strategies namely the Bio-Economy Strategy, DST’s Ten-Year Innovation Plan (including addressing the DST Grand Challenges), and the National Research and Development Strategy. Various initiatives have been enacted to support technology development, including:

• Advanced Manufacturing (AM);
• Agriculture;
• Energy;
• Information Communication and Technology (ICT);
• Health;
• Natural Resources;and
• Workout and Restructuring.

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