Here’s what to expect at the 2018 SA Innovation Summit

The SA Innovation Summit is set to take place between 12 and 14 September in Cape Town under theme Africa, our time has come!

The summit will bring together corporates, government, academia, researchers, and entrepreneurs to unpack the biggest challenges on the continent, including the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) and how it matters to the African economy. Organisers expect that 1500 delegates will attend the three-day conference.

Some 50 keynote speakers will be addressing the effect of technology and innovation in different industries and applications, including agritech, fintech, biotech, edutech, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and space and cities of the future.

Up to 50 keynote speakers have been confirmed for the 2018 SA Innovation Summit

With just under three weeks to go before it kicks off here’s what’s in store.

The Pitching Den: Entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to a panel of expert judges and the winner, as Regional Representative for South Africa, qualifies to take part in the Start-up World Cup Finale in Silicon Valley where they stand to win a grand prize of $1-million investment.

The CEO Panel: CEOs from four major manufacturing companies, will debate the implications of Industry 4.0 on global supply chains and ask the question: Do we venture enough? In addition, the Corporate Venturing Masterclass will feature international speakers from Silicon Valley and the United Kingdom applying their expertise to the African context.

The FemBioBiz Pitching Den: A total of 28 female finalists — selected from 500 entrants in 13 Southern African Development Community countries — will compete for the top prize in the Biosciences space.

Agritech Platform: This is billed as the ultimate innovation platform for agritech entrepreneurs of all scales who want to showcase innovative solutions. Panel discussions will cover topics that include fintech for farming, investment, tech adoption, and scaling African agritech startups.

The Global Cleantech (GCIP-SA) Pitching Den: Join 48 cleantech and greentech startups as they pitch their solutions.

The Disrupt Stage: This space will feature master classes and a deep dive that provides a blueprint for disruption for attendees’ concepts, products or new ventures.

Exciting virtual reality and augmented reality activations will also be on display as Sea Monster, one of South Africa’s leading animation and gaming tech companies, demonstrates how big businesses have used gamification and immersive tech to drive business outcomes that directly affect the bottom line.

The Inventors Garage: This is a showcase of early stage, pre-commercial inventors and innovators with a demo, working prototype or product from proven concept to early commercialisation stage.

A total of 21 carefully selected innovators and inventors — from kitchen and garage inventors, to seasoned innovators and engineering students — will pitch their businesses in an opportunity to compete and find early stage financial support, while exploring potential markets and sharing experiences with other entrepreneurs and researchers.

The Social Innovations Summit: This mini-conference will take place within the Innovation Summit and delve deeper into the impact that social entrepreneurship is making on the ecosystem and the country.

The Innovation-Data, User X, and Design Hackathon: This unique hackathon will seek to create new ways to communicate and experience South Africa’s innovation performance. It will take place from 11 to 13 September 2018 and is run in collaboration with the Human Sciences Research Council, Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators and the National Advisory Council on Innovation.

Match and Invest Platform: This platform profiles and connect different financial support and investment mechanisms, markets and researchers with entrepreneurs at different phases of their growth cycle.