On 18 January 2022, the Central University of Technology met with the Free State Provincial Government leaders to revive the already existing partnership, present and discuss CUT’s innovative research outcomes that could potentially assist the province in addressing some of the challenges faced.

In his opening remarks, Prof. Alfred Ngowi, Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal, said that CUT academics and researchers are working tirelessly to apply their knowledge in solving, shaping and contributing to the advancement of nation-building projects. “Presentations shared here today shows that our academics are adamant to collaborate and work closely with the provincial government in solving some of the challenges identified in the province. This is the opportunity for the provincial government to see our capabilities,” he said.

In her presentation, CUT Innovation Services (CUTis) Chairperson: Ms Matseliso Mfanta, mentioned that as a country, we are faced with the triple challenge of inequality, poverty, and unemployment, and what CUTis seeks to achieve is to contribute to the stimulation of the economy to address the challenges faced by the province.

“We understand that government cannot do it alone, therefore we believe that in collaboration with policymakers, business fraternity, community leaders and institutions of higher learning, we will be able to make a significant improvement in our socio-economic landscape.”

She highlighted that the change in weather and traffic patterns are some of the challenges that affect the roads infrastructure leading to road erosion.

CUT has already embarked on several innovative projects to address these challenges. One such project sees partners Civil labs, CUTis and industry working together to develop a road safe pothole repair method - a time-saving remedy to repair damaged roads caused by ageing and moisture that enters the underlying soil layers. The newly developed method has been used in Bloemfontein and Boshoff to improve the conditions of the roads.

 “As an institution, we are here today saying that it will be interesting to get more of such challenges so that we can collaborate on others that we have overlooked. We are here to catalyze the innovation ecosystem within the province and beyond. We are also here to promote entrepreneurship and enterprise development; and foster innovation and capacity development”.

She also mentioned that the focus is on agriculture, food security, hospitality, ICT, smart industries, advanced and additive manufacturing as well as the circular economy. “Our anticipated outcomes are job creation, as well as enterprise and industries establishment”.

Caption

From left: CUTis Chairperson, Ms Matseliso Mfanta, MEC for Finance, Ms Gadija Brown and acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research Innovation and Engagement, Prof. Samson Mashele.

Uploaded: 21 January 2022