Stellenbosch: The Silicon Valley of South Africa

Stellenbosch has been named as one of the top 10 cities in Africa for business tourism events by the International Congress and Convention Association’s (ICCA) Country and City rankings. Katie Reynolds-Da Silva explores its capabilities in more depth.

In last year’s ICCA rankings, Stellenbosch secured the number seven position for hosting association meetings, ahead of cities like Cairo, Kampala and Tshwane. A total of 48 international association meetings have been hosted across the continent and Cape Town claimed the number one spot. ICCA rankings are regarded among the most important benchmarks in the international association meetings market.

“Stellenbosch 360 recognised that business tourism (conferences, meetings, events, incentives and exhibitions) is an important segment of our ‘total product offering’,” says Annemarie Ferns, former CEO of Stellenbosch 360. “We recently launched a unit to promote and actively drive Stellenbosch’s vision to become a leading conference, events and incentives destination, with the ultimate objective of increasing the prosperity of the region.”

Stellenbosch retains its status as the jewel in the crown of the Western Cape, but for reasons that go beyond food and wine. International best practice and research indicated that strong knowledge regions are supported by:

Knowledge centres, including academic thought leaders and research Critical mass of spin-out companies Entrepreneurs and mentors Funding mechanisms such as venture capital, angel investors and private equity funds The presence of multinational companies Infrastructure such as the LaunchLab Cluster policies and government support Strong networks Quality of life Stellenbosch offers a cross-sector and inter-disciplinary opportunity that naturally brings people together from business and academia to meet each other and share ideas. This encourages collaboration and partnership for greater shared success and in support of a stronger innovation ecosystem and inclusive economic growth for the region. In turn, this aids in positioning Stellenbosch internationally as an innovation hub and knowledge region in Africa.

Innovus Innovus is Stellenbosch University’s university-industry interaction platform for the commercialisation of the university’s assets. Innovus has a vision to further build out the Stellenbosch ‘Knowledge Region’ around pockets of excellence in fields such as Education, Biomedical Engineering, Sport, Fintech, Media and

AgriScience. The Innovus team works with all the stakeholders required to host a business event and, in turn, enhance and showcase our knowledge region. The various local stakeholders are as follows. 1. Innovus, SU division guide and support the following stakeholders: Thought leaders, distinguished professors from a pool of four hundred and fifty-one NRF researchers in 2017. Fourteen researchers are regarded as World leaders, while 120 researchers are considered as experts in their fields. In addition, SU boasts seven Centre’s of excellence with thirty-nine research chairs guiding South African research in their field of expertise.

Stellenbosch Town Evaluation: • Internal environment:

Stellenbosch University has distinctive competences with word-class thought leaders producing fundamental and applied research in many fields of study and access to talent. • SU ranked 2nd best university on the African continent according to QS World Rankings and ranked under the top 350 universities in the world according

Times Higher Education. • The university is considered a research-intensive university owing to a third of 30 000 students being post graduates and more than a 1 000 academic staff, from 10 faculties on 5 campuses. • SU has 451 NRF-rated researchers, 14 of which are regarded as World Leaders, while 120 researchers are considered as experts in their fields. • SU boasts 7 Centre’s of excellence with 47 research chairs guiding SA research in their field of expertise. • SU is the most researchproductive institutions nationwide according to the DHET’s assessment, 2017 as well as the national leader with 111 PCT applications from 2009 - 2018.

SU post graduates and international student cohorts are actively contributing to research under the guidance of thought leaders. In 2017, a group of 10 440 post graduate students assisted to strengthen the SU knowledge region in many fields of study. 2. Innovus (Pty) Ltd guide and support the commercialisation of university research, entrepreneurial students and entrepreneurs at large. SU young talent are stimulated to innovate and their innovations are shaped in the SU incubator, LaunchLab, currently incubating 44 start-ups nationally. 3. Innovus in both capacities, continuously work on building internal and external relationships with local and international industries, who recognise the value of being surrounded by the above to access the collaborative effort and enhance strong local industries.

Encouraging Promising Ideas Innovus, Technology Transfer Office focus on research commercialisation from the pool of four hundred and fifty-one NRF researchers in 2017 and also offer entrepreneurial development and support to the researchers. This includes technology transfer, which is the commercialisation and the management of the University’s intellectual property portfolio through patent protection, licensing and the formation of spin-out companies.

Ideation A collaboration between Innovus, The Lauchlab and Industry, to host focused events, in order to increase the entrepreneurial and innovation culture across Stellenbosch University (SU) campus is of great importance. It helps successfully create and sustain an innovation knowledge region in the greater Stellenbosch area. It is Innovus’ and The LaunchLab’s goal to increase the amount of quality ideas entering their business development and support programmes by providing entrepreneurship support and creating an innovation culture among the students across all faculties at Stellenbosch University.

For example the annual SU Hackathon focusses on getting talented student programmers, designers, builders, scientists and engineers to come together to learn, build and share their creative ideas, while solving industryrelevant problems innovatively. Industry partners are involved in this initiative in a hands-on manner, not only through providing sponsorship for the event, but also through the provision of that challenge framework and mentors for the students throughout the event. This enables students to network and create close ties with industry, while becoming cognisant of the problems that industry face. The industry in turn is able to identify talented students for employment and market their company culture to the students.

Target Environment:

• Stellenbosch has a competitive advantage that can be leveraged in conjunction with the above distinct competences, offering a unique value proposition. • LaunchLab business incubator to start and grow new ventures; incubated 177 businesses successfully since 2015, contributing 155 direct jobs. • 8 multi-billion Rand international company head offices are situated in the region. • Stellenbosch ranks 3rd among all African cities in fDi Intelligence’s study of global biotech locations (cluster). • Emerging business tourism hub and ranked in the top 12 cities on the African continent for business meetings and conferences according to the ICCA. • Strategically situated near Cape

Town and only 30 minutes from

Cape Town International Airport. • World class facilities: apart from the 5 campuses with teaching, learning and research facilities SU also has a theatre complex, a conservatorium complex and extensive sports facilities to name a few.

A World Class Centre of Excellence From assessment of the entrepreneurship and innovation arena, it is evident that the seeds have been sown in Stellenbosch for at least nine of the ten ingredients that make up a world-class knowledge region economy. One of the ingredients that appears to be almost absent in the region is the frequent networking between the innovation stakeholders and role-players making up the knowledge region. Based on this, Innovus recently established the Stellenbosch Network with the mission and objectives focusing mainly on strengthening the network, as the consortium members believe that this will catalyse the further development of the Stellenbosch region.

Networking and Matchmaking The Stellenbosch Network connects people and companies for research and partnering through a database of comprehensive knowledge of local expertise and also plays an active role in matching the capabilities and requirements of respective role-players through the dynamic mapping of the region’s various clusters, with focus on uplifting female- and black-owned SMMEs.

Storytelling and Awareness The Stellenbosch Network spreads news, success stories, experiences, lessons learnt and accomplishments pertaining to the innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives of its members to the community/member population. These stories strive to inspire to actively

Innovus economic impact confirmation

Stellenbosch university has a shareholding of around R100m in the 25+ companies.

In 2018 a combined turnover of about R274m, a 21% increase from 2017 (R226m), keeping in mind that many of the companies are very young and have no or limited revenue. The companies directly employ around 283 people.

contribute, participate and build the Stellenbosch knowledge region.

Empowering Local Communities Business events enable value creation and growth, that empower local SME businesses who in turn will create employment opportunities in the region. Furthermore events can foster an entrepreneurial spirit on campus and create entrepreneurial awareness in the student community and may also lead to job creation opportunities for graduates, parallel career development for young researchers, and a positive impact on the local developer community through encouragement the sharing of innovative ideas and networking within the community.

The Next Chapter Stellenbosch 360 closed its doors on the 31st July 2019 to pave the way for a new organisation Visit Stellenbosch. They will in future be the DMO for Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch 360 has however laid the foundation for the town to become a ‘Living conference, events and incentives destination’. “We also pride ourselves in being the Food, Wine, Art and Sport capital of South Africa, besides being a university town and as a result, have become a hub for conferences and events,” says Annemarie Ferns. Its proximity to the airport makes it an ideal second tier city, and through its multi-cultural diversity, scenic beauty, and iconic attractions it is an ideal space to engage with locals, immerse oneself and allow for preand post-conference time to enjoy the countryside and diverse offerings, still with close access to Cape Town.

The Event Africa would like to thank Christi Wiechers, Commercialisation Senior Project Manager, Innovus Technology Transfer (Pty) Ltd, Stellenbosch University, and Annemarie Ferns of Stellenbosch 360 for their valuable contributions to this article, and the images provided.

Macro Environment

• Western Cape region can capitalise on the Stellenbosch competitive advantage by aligning all the academic institutions in proximity as well as the surrounding industries. • Four Universities and the

Medical Research Council within 40 minutes’ drive from each other. • Centrally located and encircled by towns such as Paarl, Somerset West, Caledon, and Wellington placing it in the middle of a growing market. • Word class conference and meeting venues • Ease of communication with

English as a business language • Similar time zone as

Europe and UK • Value for money / Affordable • Logistically (airlift) well connected with major airlines • 1st world comforts with diverse cultural experiences • A typical Mediterranean climate with a dry, hot summer (max. temperature 27 °C) and a wet mild winter (min. temperature 7 °C).

THE KERZNER @ UJ

Conference Schoolroom © Jessica Notelo Photography

THE KERZNER@UJ – VENUES AT THE KERZNER BUILDING

Meeting Space Cinema

Conference Room 1 or 2 Conference Room 1 & 2 combined Stellenbosch Room Auditorium and Foyer Empact Culinary Theater 100 200 - 147 45

Boardroom

36 - 20 - -

Stellenbosch Room © Jessica Notelo Photography

Classroom

60 100 - - -

U-shape

30 60 - - -

Cocktail

80 150 - 147 -

Banquet

ABOUT THE KERZNER@UJ The Kerzner@UJ offers a broad range of 4-star graded, HACCP certified Meetings, Exhibitions and Special Events venues, complemented by its food and beverage specialty services. It is a commercial entity of the School of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of Johannesburg.

The main conference venues are located in the Kerzner Building, at the UJ Auckland Park, Bunting Road Campus. These facilities are ideally placed to cater for the academic, corporate meetings and events market in the Joburg CBD vicinity and surrounds.

The venues are especially designed to enable flexibility and optimal space usage can accommodate conferences, banquets, exhibitions and other special meetings events of varying capacities. Adjacent to the conference rooms is the Kerzner Bistro, which combined with the conference space opens up to an even larger space, extending to the UJ Alumni Bar and Waterford Restaurant.

In close proximity to the conference rooms is the Stellenbosch Executive Boardroom, which offers video conferencing facilities, providing a seamless and easily accessible MESE experience for every event organiser. All venues provide complimentary wireless internet access and secure parking.

Every venue booking counts at The Kerzner@UJ! Committed to

providing a unique experience with unparalleled quality and service, every booking confirmed contributes to bolstering our talent pool of prospective tourism and hospitality graduates.

FACILITIES

• 4x City Lodge Syndicate Rooms • Waterford Restaurant • UJ Alumni Bar • Design Café (Coffee Shop) • Center for Culinary Excellence -

Industrial Kitchen for hire

CONTACT US Tel: +27 11 559 1141/1142 Email: sthreception1@uj.ac.za Website: www.thekerzneratuj.com Facebook: thekerzneratuj Instagram: thekerzner@uj