University-Industry Collaboration Colloquium: Season VI

Registration, Welcome Coffee & Collaboration Connections

An informal networking session where participants identify one challenge they would like industry or academia to help solve.

Welcome and Introduction to Season VI

The Collaboration Dividend: Who Gets the Value?

Opening Keynote: The Collaboration Dividend Is Real. So Is the Collaboration Tax.

A look at the value partnerships create, the friction they carry, and who bears the cost when incentives and timelines do not align.

The Uncomfortable Conversation: Why Do Great University Ideas Struggle to Become Great Businesses?

Why strong research, prototypes, and patents do not automatically become businesses, and how academic and market incentives differ.

Morning Coffee/Tea Break: Fuel for the Trenches

Refreshment and networking.

We Keep Building Bridges, but Nobody Maintains the Road

How partnerships can sustain shared governance, placements, data use, and accountability beyond launch events and funding cycles.

Translating Research into Deployable Solutions

Moving research beyond pilots towards validated technologies that can be adopted in operational environments, including applied research and testing examples from Eskom RT&D.

Lunch & Networking Buffet

Purposeful Mingling with a Side of Satire at themed networking tables.

Panel Discussion: The Copyright Amendment Bill - Balancing Access, Innovation and the Economic Rights of Creatives

The panel examines access to creative works alongside copyright protection, commercial incentives, and the interests of authors and publishers.

Building Effective Academia-Industry Alliances for the Energy Transition

Practical partnership models for digital and AI systems, resilient grids, energy storage, decarbonised energy, and changing energy markets.

Afternoon Refreshment Break

Recharge and connect.

Collaboration Lab: If We Could Start Again, What Would We Do Differently?

Mixed university-industry teams design an ideal collaboration model and close with ideas, challenges, and commitments to take forward.

Morning Coffee & Collaboration Networking

Reconnect and share reflections from Day 1.

Recap and Reflections: The Most Important Insights from Day 1

Keynote: The Missing Middle - Who Connects Universities, Entrepreneurs and Industry?

Who funds and supports the translators connecting grants, founders, procurement, placements, and corporate innovation?

Rural Innovation & Sustainable Agri-Food Systems

Agri-tech ecosystems, university roles, regional policy, public-private partnerships, rural entrepreneurs, and collaboration between community projects and corporate R&D.

Morning Tea Break

Networking or strategic napping - your choice.

Who Owns the Idea? Intellectual Property, Innovation and the University-Industry Bargain

How ownership should be agreed before work begins, including the rights of students, supervisors, funders, and industry hosts.

Adjusting to Increasing Compliance and Regulatory Policies

Designing practical policies and shared evidence packs that protect integrity and public trust while keeping research and partnerships moving.

Developing Models of Co-Mentoring and Funding the Future STEM Workforce

Building funded mentoring partnerships where universities, employers, and students share responsibility for priority pathways.

Networking Lunch

Workshop: Zero Risk Start-Up

Paulo Andrez introduces the MEFLO framework - market, entrepreneur/team, financial, legal, and operational - for testing demand and reducing venture risk.

Afternoon Refreshment Break

Last chance for caffeine and connections.

MOUs Don't Make Widgets: Converting Collaboration into Capability

What it takes to move university-industry projects beyond agreements and pilots into deployable technology, commercial outcomes, and lasting capability.

Presentation of Key Recommendations, Commitments and Closing Remarks