Gauteng Climate for COP17

The Gauteng Climate Innovations Centre (CIC) is being showcased with 10 other top selected projects, including Eskom’s Ceres Wind project and the Department of Energy’s solar project at this year’s COP17.

The Gauteng Climate Innovation Centre (CIC) is being showcased at COP17 with 10 other top selected projects. CIC is being featured prominently along with Eskom’s Ceres Wind project, the Department of Energy’s solar projects and others at the South African Pavilion at the Climate Change Response (CCR) Expo at COP17 from 28 November to 9 December.

The CIC is a public-private partnership between The Innovation Hub and infoDev, part of the World Bank Group. The South African Government, represented by an inter-ministerial task team of cabinet ministers, senior advisors and officials in consultation with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) selected the CIC as one of the Top 10 South African projects.

The Climate Innovation Centre (CIC) network initiative was designed and launched by the World Bank Group’s infoDev and aims to accelerate the development, deployment, and transfer of locally relevant climate technologies.

The MEC of economic development, Qedani Mahlangu says that the CIC will boost green growth and job creation by financing and supporting the competitive and profitable involvement of clean tech SMMEs in local and international supply-chains and markets.

‚We are aiming to form a holistic approach to boosting green growth and industrial competitiveness through supporting innovation in climate technologies and by involving a range of stakeholders (government, private sector, research community, donors and NGOs),‚ says McLean Sibanda, CEO of The Innovation Hub, a subsidiary of Blue IQ Investment Holdings which is an agency of the Gauteng Department of Economic Development (DED).

The Innovation Hub’s efforts to support domestic innovation, technology transfer, and commercialisation are particularly strong in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and is focused on extending this to climate innovation, as evidenced by this partnership.

The Climate Innovation Centre in Gauteng supports innovation and entrepreneurship by offering a full suite of services that support climate technology commercialisation. The services include incubating promising start-ups, access to finance, product testing facilities, market and IP information and guidance as well as technical assistance.

Access to innovative solutions that have been developed by SMMEs will be handled by the CIC so that large corporations, all spheres of governments and in particular municipalities can utilise and roll out the solutions. In this way, the CIC will act as a focal point or a ‚one-stop-shop’ to aggregate efforts in promoting the growth of locally relevant climate industries.

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