The Southern Education and Research Alliance (SERA), founded in 1999, is a strategic alliance formed between the University of Pretoria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.[2] The alliance collaborates locally and internationally with universities, NGO's, companies and multinational bodies in various research areas.[3] Sera has a 50% shareholding in the Innovation Hub, a fully accredited technology park situated on 60 hectares of the university's experimental farm.[4]
The alliance partners have identified a number of areas of common interest, ability and capacity. Within these areas, themes have been identified and task teams have been put together to explore the possibility of co-operation. Education, research, market related activities, intellectual property and venturing are to be the focus of this co-operation. The teams have examined the current reality and market opportunities in each of these fields, and have developed proposals for a variety of activities, such as the joint offering of graduate programmes, the development of joint institutes or centres of expertise and ad hoc projects .
Venturing opportunities have been referred to SERA (Pty) Ltd, a company that was set up as the technology exploitation branch of the alliance. Its primary focus is the pursuit of the best, most profitable means of bringing technologies to the market through venturing, commercialisation and the protection and exploitation of intellectual property.
The strategic alliance continually seeks synergies and domains of mutual benefit for both organisations. A number of benefit schemes, including a staff study rebate scheme, an undergraduate bursary scheme, extraordinary professorships, the appointment of fellows and continuing education benefits for both partners have evolved from the alliance.[5]
The Innovation Hubedit
Innovation Hub
SERA and the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) agreed to establish The Innovation Hub through the Blue IQ initiative, a multi-billion rand initiative of the provincial government to invest in the development of economic infrastructure in identified mega projects in tourism, smart industries and high value-added manufacturing, to create a "smart" province.[6] The Innovation Hub is South Africa and Africa's first internationally accredited science and technology park and is a member of the International Association of Science Parks.[7]
The Innovation Hub is situated on a knowledge axis between the University of Pretoria and the CSIR on the university's experimental farm. The Innovation Hub offers an environment conducive for technology-driven businesses and high-technology entrepreneurs, and attracts anchor tenants, stimulate research and development and provide incubators for start-up businesses.[8] The development will include the establishment of a high-technology incubator. This partnership aims to create a new dimension that combines the strengths of the university and the CSIR with those of business and the government in order to stimulate economic activity and offer opportunities to commercialise local, innovative technologies.
SERA (Pty) Ltd has a 50% shareholding in The Innovation Hub Management Company (Pty) Ltd and The Innovation Hub Incubator Company (Pty) Ltd and is the sole owner of SERA Hub Investments (Pty) Ltd[citation needed]. Negotiations for the establishment of a venture fund are ongoing, while both the university and the CSIR have subscribed to the formation of the new Department of Trade and Industry Innovation Fund.[9][10]
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This article relies excessively on references to primary sources Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources Find sources Southern Education and Research Alliance news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2009 Learn how and when to remove this message The Southern Education and Research Alliance SERA founded in 1999 is a strategic alliance formed between the University of Pretoria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 2 The alliance collaborates locally and internationally with universities NGO s companies and multinational bodies in various research areas 3 Sera has a 50 shareholding in the Innovation Hub a fully accredited technology park situated on 60 hectares of the university s experimental farm 4 Southern Education and Research AllianceAbbreviationSERAFormation1999 1 TypeResearch allianceLocationPretoria South AfricaMembershipUniversity of Pretoria CSIRRelationship ManagersThulani Dlamini CSIR Stephanie Burton University of Pretoria Websitewww seralliance com Contents 1 Background 2 The Innovation Hub 3 Projects 4 References 5 External linksBackground editThe alliance partners have identified a number of areas of common interest ability and capacity Within these areas themes have been identified and task teams have been put together to explore the possibility of co operation Education research market related activities intellectual property and venturing are to be the focus of this co operation The teams have examined the current reality and market opportunities in each of these fields and have developed proposals for a variety of activities such as the joint offering of graduate programmes the development of joint institutes or centres of expertise and ad hoc projects Venturing opportunities have been referred to SERA Pty Ltd a company that was set up as the technology exploitation branch of the alliance Its primary focus is the pursuit of the best most profitable means of bringing technologies to the market through venturing commercialisation and the protection and exploitation of intellectual property The strategic alliance continually seeks synergies and domains of mutual benefit for both organisations A number of benefit schemes including a staff study rebate scheme an undergraduate bursary scheme extraordinary professorships the appointment of fellows and continuing education benefits for both partners have evolved from the alliance 5 The Innovation Hub edit nbsp Innovation Hub SERA and the Gauteng Provincial Government GPG agreed to establish The Innovation Hub through the Blue IQ initiative a multi billion rand initiative of the provincial government to invest in the development of economic infrastructure in identified mega projects in tourism smart industries and high value added manufacturing to create a smart province 6 The Innovation Hub is South Africa and Africa s first internationally accredited science and technology park and is a member of the International Association of Science Parks 7 The Innovation Hub is situated on a knowledge axis between the University of Pretoria and the CSIR on the university s experimental farm The Innovation Hub offers an environment conducive for technology driven businesses and high technology entrepreneurs and attracts anchor tenants stimulate research and development and provide incubators for start up businesses 8 The development will include the establishment of a high technology incubator This partnership aims to create a new dimension that combines the strengths of the university and the CSIR with those of business and the government in order to stimulate economic activity and offer opportunities to commercialise local innovative technologies SERA Pty Ltd has a 50 shareholding in The Innovation Hub Management Company Pty Ltd and The Innovation Hub Incubator Company Pty Ltd and is the sole owner of SERA Hub Investments Pty Ltd citation needed Negotiations for the establishment of a venture fund are ongoing while both the university and the CSIR have subscribed to the formation of the new Department of Trade and Industry Innovation Fund 9 10 Projects editAfrican Centre for Gene Technologies ACGT was established in 2001 as the SERA biotechnology task team ACGT has since grown into a regional initiative 11 References edit Highlights and Achievements Retrieved 10 September 2009 Highlights and Achievements Retrieved 10 September 2009 SERA Relationships and Links Retrieved 1 October 2009 Our partners an overview Retrieved 28 May 2010 Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine http www seralliance com profile php SERA Profile The Innovation Hub a community for creators of the future Archived from the original on 2009 07 26 Retrieved 2009 06 17 The Innovation Hub http www theinnovationhub com about us About Us Retrieved October 6 2011 The Innovation Hub a community for creators of the future Archived from the original on 2009 07 27 Retrieved 2009 06 17 The Innovation Hub Location RealBusiness net work Archived from the original on 2007 08 18 Retrieved 2009 06 17 Real Business http www dacst gov za science technology innovation other funds htm Archived 2008 12 04 at the Wayback Machine The Innovation Fund http www acgt co za profiles Burton php permanent dead link External links editSERA Website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Southern Education and Research Alliance amp oldid 1105519468, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
