Companies news
The French Embassy in South Africa launches the French-South African Tech Transfer Bridge 2020 Programme
The South African Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the French Embassy in South Africa in collaboration with their national knowledge transfer associations, invite research teams, industrial actors and technology transfer offices to submit proposals that will foster the development of technology transfer between France and South Africa.
The scientific excellence in our two countries provides great potential for the transfer of research results from public laboratories to the industrial sector, which can lead to job creation and economic growth.
The French-South African Tech Transfer Bridge is a flexible, year-round programme designed to develop strong partnerships between French or South African public laboratories and potential industrial partners.
It aims to connect French and South African teams, in the final phases of contracting or testing the relevance of technologies for industrial use.
As an example of a fundable project, a research team from a South African university identified a French enterprise interested in their technology with the help of the university’s technology transfer office. They are currently negotiating a licensing agreement. In this case, the Tech Transfer Bridge will help transfer the technology by providing incentive funding (covering travel and accommodation) for the industrial partner to visit the South African university and be trained in the use of the technology.
In a different case, two technology transfer offices might wish to (i) exchange expertise in the field of license negotiation, (ii) build up a portfolio of common patents to be exploited, and/or (iii) develop a common framework for the “valorisation" of the various common research projects of their universities. In such an instance, the Tech Transfer Bridge would facilitate the organisation with an exchange of staff to make progress on these issues.
The Tech Transfer Bridge call opens in July 2020 and closes on 30 October 2020. The applications will be reviewed by a jury comprising of representatives from the DSI and the French Embassy, as well as the main representatives of French and South African technology transfer associations.
Successful applicants will be able to meet their partners for one or two weeks, either in France or in South Africa, to develop their common project. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered.
