Eight local start-ups in space and Earth observation innovations have been named as recipients of this year’s Earth Observation Frontiers Enterprises Innovation Support Fund (NEOFrontiers Fund).
Selected from a total of 56 applications, the funding recipients are: Abiri Innovations, Agizo Solutions, Aphelion World JV/Consortium, CreditAIs, Integrated Geoscience Solutions, Kgothatso Innovations, Regona Trading and YaAzi, according to a statement.
The NEOFrontiers programme is managed by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and National Research Foundation (NRF), and implemented with the support of the University of Pretoria’s Tuksnovation business and tech incubator.
SANSA launched the funding initiative in 2021 through investment from the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI). The programme subsidises enterprises with amounts ranging from R750 000 to R1 million, for 12 months.
DSTI acting chief director Itumeleng Makoloi says the programme unfolds at an opportune time, as SA seeks to foster innovation.
“We need to create new ways of modernising areas such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing. We believe this programme represents our shared vision to foster innovation, capacity-building and strategic partnership across the public sector.”
According to the statement, NEOFrontiers is an innovation funding mechanism designed to drive the growth of the local space sector through increased public investments, supporting skills, technology and product development.
The first four NEOFrontiers projects were funded in 2022, while 2023 saw three start-ups supported.
This year’s NEOFrontiers submissions focused on mining, agriculture, infrastructure development, healthcare innovation, banking and financial institutions, as well as disaster risk reduction, says the statement.
SANSA CEO Humbulani Mudau highlights the programme will create a market pool for innovative solutions, for which space is a significant enabler and value provider.
“I’m delighted to report there is an equal split in gender representation. We have awarded the grant to start-up companies led and owned by four males and four females. This is good progress towards transforming the industry.
“We’re indeed going to make this a flagship programme that will transform space-based ideas into relevant products and services that address societal and environmental challenges. As we do that, we’re going to be looking at increasing the competitiveness of the South African Earth observation industry for the benefit of the South African society.”
NRF CEO Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo adds the initiative has the potential to gear small enterprises in the space sector to create job opportunities.
“The key focus is to support start-ups, SMMEs and entrepreneurs with funding. The reason for this is that we expect much more from our SMMEs, to make sure they can grow and employ more people.
“When they employ more people, there is an increase in new technology and service innovations coming out of their areas to a point that we can get even more people involved. Our rate of unemployment is increasing.”
The next call to fund new SMMEs will be published before the end of 2024, reveals the statement.
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