Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

UFS hosts launch of Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme

14 November 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons

Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme launch 2024 — Staff members from the Directorate Research Development (DRD) at the University of the Free State; Palesa Mgaga, second from right, Tebogo Machethe, centre, and Charelise van Staden, second from right, were thanked for hosting the launch of the Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme. They are pictured with colleagues from the IDC’s Samkelisiwe Mtsewu, left, and Thato Mogopodi, far right.

The University of the Free State (UFS), represented by the Directorate Research Development (DRD), played host to the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (dtic) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) for the launch of its Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme (KIPP).

The launch took place on 5 November in the Sasol Library on the Bloemfontein Campus. Tebogo Machethe, Director: Research Contracts and Innovation at the DRD, said its role was to expose the university researchers to different opportunities and programmes for funding from the IDC and the dtic. It also allowed the researchers to engage potential funders in order to understand what funders look for in a project when considering funding it.

“The aim of IDC KIPP is to assist local entrepreneurs and small to medium enterprises with commercialisation funding. The KIPP offers capital and business support to SMMEs during the early stages of commercialisation with particular emphasis on township and rural entrepreneurs,” said Machethe.

Address uneven distribution of economic development

KIPP is a dtic programme but is managed by the IDC and aims to enable early-stage innovative SMEs to penetrate the market with their locally developed innovations, resulting in a more competitive economic environment and thereby facilitating economic growth in the economy.

According to Machethe, who welcomed the guests, participants and presenters to the launch, some of the funding is geared towards the development of university innovations. Though the focus was on the KIPP launch, he continued, the discussions also encompassed other forms of funding that are available and more geared towards the university innovation.

His address was centred around the university's Vision 130 and how it supports innovation and the entire innovation ecosystem, which seeks to shift the emphasis to research impact, embracing both knowledge and societal impact. Vision 130 identifies the need for a greater focus on collaborative research, research that can attract large-scale funding in niche areas where the university is seen as a national and global leader.

Samkelisiwe Mtsewu, KIPP Account Manager at the IDC, said the programme was introduced to address the uneven distribution of economic development across the country. She said with its capacity, the KIPP programme can contribute to addressing the uneven distribution of economic development.

News Archive

Research conducted on economic impact of recent international soccer and rugby matches for Bloemfontein

2004-09-09

The Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently conducted a survey on the economic impact of the international soccer and rugby games that were played in Bloemfontein earlier this year.

The research focused on the soccer match between Bafana Bafana and the Cape Verdic Isle and the rugby match between the Springboks and Ireland .

“The survey was done as a result of a research agenda about local economic development in Bloemfontein ,” said Dr Lochner Marais, researcher at the centre.

“We conducted the research by doing 402 interviews with soccer supporters and 376 interviews with rugby supporters from outside Bloemfontein ,” said Dr Marais.

The centre distributed questionnaires, collecting the following information on the soccer and rugby supporters: their age, gender and origin, the number of nights spend in Bloemfontein , their household expenditure in Bloemfontein and their rating on the quality of service.

“It is estimated that 10 800 soccer supporters and 27 000 rugby supporters came from outside Bloemfontein . Of the rugby supporters 14,4% were female and 85,6% were men. For the soccer international the percentage was 33% females and 67% males,” said Dr Marais.

The highest number of people who came to watch the soccer game in Bloemfontein (35,8%) was from the Northern Free State . The rugby supporters mainly came from Gauteng (21,8%) and the Northern Free State (18%).

When visiting Bloemfontein soccer supporters spend R912 per household, whilst rugby supporters reached deeper in their pockets and spent R1 807 per household.

“The survey indicated that the two international matches resulted in approximately R58 million been spent in Bloemfontein . Rugby supporters were accountable for the largest part (R48 787 205) spent. The largest chunk of the money spent was on accommodation (R14 593 279). On average soccer and rugby supporters from outside Bloemfontein spent 1,4 and 1,9 nights in Bloemfontein ,” said Dr Marais.

Rugby and soccer supporters were also asked to rate the quality of service received from amongst others hotels, guest houses, restaurants, and transport and entertainment facilities. Soccer supporters rated their satisfaction with services higher as rugby supporters. The rugby supporters gave the services at hotels a 3,9 rating, whilst soccer supporters awarded 4,6 rating out of a possible five.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
9 September 2004

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept