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03 October 2024 | Story Ansie Barnard | Photo Supplied
Amrut Foundation 2024
From left to right: Londeka Mkhwanazi, Semither Mkhize, Salima van Schalkwyk, Slindokuhle Ndlovu, Asanda Mpinga, Mantombi Molefe, Ntombinkulu Khumalo, Mosebjadi Chauke and Thembinkosi Mkhwanazi.

The Amrut Foundation, in partnership with the University of the Free State (UFS), successfully hosted its Inaugural Innovathon at the UFS Qwaqwa Campus. This competition is designed to identify and support innovative products and services that not only generate profit but also contribute to the public good, with a strong emphasis on ethical business practices. Through this collaboration, students gain national exposure for their businesses and receive support to create sustainable social enterprises.

Five teams of student social entrepreneurs from the Qwaqwa campus were shortlisted to participate in the regional finals. Their selection was based on ventures that adhered to a social entrepreneurship model and demonstrated plans for long-term profitability and sustainability.

During the Innovathon, a panel of judges from the UFS, the Amrut Foundation, and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) selected two outstanding teams to represent the UFS at the national finals, which will take place in October. The winning ventures, Biofly-Pro and Root Rescue were each awarded R20,000 to further develop and expand their initiatives.

Hemang Desai, Executive Director of the Amrut Foundation, expressed his enthusiasm for the event: "Amrut is proud to co-host the Free State leg of the inaugural Innovation Challenge with the UFS. Supporting students with entrepreneurial ambitions that align with societal care is one of our key focus areas."

Dr Grey Magaiza, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director for the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the UFS, highlighted the importance of social entrepreneurship: “Social entrepreneurship is a collaborative effort towards creating sustainable and ethical business processes. The two winning projects embody these principles, and we look forward to their continued growth. In line with our Vision 130, social entrepreneurship can serve as a critical lever for university-community engagement.”

Congratulations to Biofly-Pro and Root Rescue on their well-deserved achievements! 

News Archive

UFS unveils new HPC cluster
2011-04-04

Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Prof. Theuns Verschoor and staff of the UFS ICT department at the unveiling of the HPC cluster

Our university has unveiled a brand-new multimillion-rand High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster, which promises to enhance the way research is done at our university.

The new HPC cluster is a super powerful computing cluster, and already has 28 users from six university departments using it to speed up and simplify their research. The cluster of more than R2,7 million was unveiled in March 2011.
 
It boasts an incredible 800 processing cores and special high-speed data-transfer technology, to make even the most expensive home PC look like a stone-age relic.
Prof. Janse Tolmie, Senior Director: Information and Communication Technology Services (ICT Services) at the UFS, says the cluster is used to simulate experiments and their outcome electronically, using advanced software and the high processing power of the cluster.
 
The cluster is especially useful to researchers in the Chemistry, Bio-chemistry and Medical Physics departments. Prof. Tolmie says these simulations are an internationally recognised means of conducting research and it is very important for a research institution to have access to such a facility.
 
In the past, many research articles have been published by UFS researchers, based on research done using the previous incarnation of an HPC cluster at our university.
Prof. Tolmie says the cluster can also be connected to clusters at other universities and research facilities to form national or international HPC grids.
 
This will enable researchers elsewhere to access the massive processing power that UFS researchers now have at their fingertips.
 
 
Media Release
30 March 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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