June 2018

The International Technology Transfer Exchange (ITTE) Programme, funded by the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) and piloted by SARIMA in 2017 was a resounding success, supporting seven individuals from public research institutions.

The objectives of the programme were to support the strengthening of technology transfer capacity in South Africa through exposure to international technology transfer environments in the United States and Europe as well as provide a mechanism to foster partnerships and collaborations between South African and international research institutions as well as a platform for knowledge exchange.

In 2018, the partnership broadened to include the European Commission funded ESASTAP PLUS programme which led to the expansion of the ITTE programme to include an industry-leg i.e. Technology Transfer Professionals (TTPs) based at South African public research institutions not only had the opportunity to visit Technology Transfer Offices (TTO’s) of European research institutions but also European companies or other business intermediaries such as science parks, incubators and industry clusters in order to catalyse the transfer of knowledge and technologies.