Excellence award for RC&I

UCT’s Research Contracts and Innovation (RC&I) won the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) Organisational Excellence Award for Innovation Management, awarded at the annual SARIMA conference held from 3 to 6 September 2019 in Somerset West.

The DST (Department of Science and Technology)/SARIMA Excellence Awards were initiated in 2014 to celebrate excellence in research and innovation management in Southern Africa, and to encourage growth and achievement in the field as a key enabler of research and innovation towards the global public good.

Piet Barnard, the director of RC&I, said, “Innovation remains vitally important to realising the full potential of the research enterprise at UCT. I couldn’t be more proud of the team for the dedication and drive that it has taken to be recognised with this award.”

RC&I fulfils the role of a ‘technology transfer office’ in addition to supporting UCT’s research activities by centrally managing, authorising and negotiating research contracts entered into with a wide variety of funders.

The department processes around 2 400 contracts per annum with a value of approximately R1.5 billion.

Read more about RC&I at UCT.