On 21 October 2024, the ECDC and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) held a collaboration engagement at the Council’s International Convention Centre. The discussions focussed on the potential for collaboration between the ECDC and the CSIR to infuse technological innovation with the Corporation’s economic development mandate of driving industrialisation and fostering job creation.
Areas of discussion included identifying opportunities for micro-manufacturing to improve local resilience and innovation. In addition, licensed scalable technology was singled out as means to facilitate market entry for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The ECDC board chairperson, Vuyani Jarana emphasised the significance of collaboration in improving organisational effectiveness. He reiterated the importance of developing market-driven, commercially viable and scalable solutions for a lasting development impact.
The organisations resolved to collaborate in promoting economic growth and service delivery by, among other, supporting relevant government departments and institutions in areas such as disaster management, oceans economy, urban planning, development modelling, and infrastructure delivery.
The organisations also plan to collaborate on implementation of Economic Development Accelerator Solutions that support agriculture development and SMEs in the Eastern Cape, with the precision agriculture technology being among the first innovations that the parties shall jointly implement.