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27 December 2019
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Story Dr Cindé Greyling
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Photo Supplied
KovsieInnovation at the UFS is bridging the gap between industry and academics with a powerful force. For too long, research remained an academic pursuit, with many innovative ideas stuck between the pages of a thesis – only to come alive during exclusive, short-lived conference proceeds.
KovsieInnovation
Recently, Gerard Verhoef, Director in the Directorate: Research Development (DRD), and his team from KovsieInnovation finalised their Innovation and Commercialisation Strategy in order to create a structured pathway for good ideas. The primary objective of KovsieInnovation – the UFS Innovation and Entrepreneurship Office – is to achieve sustainable growth in third-stream income from innovative research activities stemming from the UFS. “Potential successful ideas must be feasible, viable, and sustainable, and we formulated an eight-step plan to facilitate this,” Verhoef explains. Ultimately, the DRD wants to attract new and continuous research as a renowned academic knowledge partner that can foster, drive, and successfully commercialise innovative research activities; and in doing so, foster an entrepreneurial culture at the UFS.
Liquid Culture
One such success story is the development of Liquid Culture into a business of choice, supplying liquid yeast to breweries and bakeries. Christopher Rothmann and Dr Errol Cason are the driving forces behind this company that produces their sought-after and stable yeast product in the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Food Biotechnology at the UFS. With world-class equipment and laboratories, they house one of the largest yeast-culture collections in the world.
Both Rothman and Dr Cason were home brewers for many years before starting to produce commercial batches. They believe it would not have been possible without the help of KovsieInnovation. This project was also one of the finalists in the National Entrepreneurship Intervarsity.
Christo Strydom Nutrition (CSN)
Another innovative way in which the UFS generates third-stream income via the DRD, is by partnering with already successful commercial products. One such example is the recent successful royalty agreement with CSN. With this transaction, the university unlocked its brand potential to the benefit of both the industry partner and the UFS. Quality assurance remains the key success factor for deals like this.
Another L’Atelier feather in the university’s cap
2013-07-24
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Pauline Gutter, winner of this year’s Absa L’Atelier competition
Photo: Supplied
23 July 2013 |
"Dagbreek: Die Dagbreker" - interview with Pauline Gutter (YouTube)
A former Kovsie won the Absa L’Atelier competition – South Africa’s most prestigious art competition – for the second year in a row. 
Pauline Gutter, who completed her BA Fine Arts degree at the UFS in 2003, is the second artist from the Free State to win the competition, which is in its 28th year of existence. In 2012, Elrie Joubert, another former Kovsie student from the Department of Fine Arts, won the competition as well.
As overall winner, Gutter receives a cash prize of R125 000 and six months’ residency in the studio apartment Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France.
Her winning entry, Die huweliksaansoek, is an interactive work consisting of a 1.8 m high association-rich obelisk, an engraved plaque, a small TV monitor and a farm-line handset. A video of a bull standing in a crush while semen is being drawn from it, is displayed. The viewer is invited to listen in voyeuristically. The soundtrack for the text is composed of statements and comments made by participants in the programme “Boer soek `n Vrou”. The question highlighted by the work, is, “does a farmer choose his future wife in the same way he breeds his stud animals?”
Pauline says her association with the farm, principled parents and strong family ties serve as inspiration for her work. To express her artistic voice in a contemporary environment is to be a close observer of society, she says. “It’s to ask questions which confront the viewer in a provocative way.”
Her advice to new artists is “hard work, sustainability and commitment. Keep looking until you find the place where you fit in.”