South Africa has unveiled a new strategy to commercialise more of its R30 billion (US$1.8 billion) annual research and development spending, as the government pushes to turn research into businesses, jobs and new industries.
The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), a government-backed innovation fund under the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, on Tuesday launched TIA 2.0, a new commercialisation-focused strategy designed to help more locally developed technologies survive the so-called “Valley of Death”—the gap where promising research fails to reach the market.
“South Africa is spending about R30 billion on research and development every year. Unfortunately, much of this investment goes into what is called the Valley of Death,” TIA chief executive officer Titus Mathe said at the launch event.
TIA 2.0 represents a structural overhaul of South Africa’s innovation system, shifting the agency from a project funder to a commercialisation catalyst. The agency is deploying capital into strategic sectors such as AI, electric vehicles, climate tech and critical minerals, while targeting the country’s R30 billion ($1.8 billion) annual research spend that too often fails to reach the market.
