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Western Cape Business 2018 edition

  • Text
  • Nedbank
  • Sectors
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Government
  • Africa
  • Management
  • Infrastructure
  • Transport
  • Opportunities
  • Energy
  • Development
  • Wesgro
  • Vodacom
  • Investment
  • Cape
  • Business
  • Tourism
  • Economic
  • Municipality
The 2018 edition of Western Cape Business is the 11th issue of this highly successful publication that, since its launch in 2005, has established itself as the premier business and investment guide for the Western Cape. In addition to the regular articles providing insight into each of the key economic sectors of the province, there are special features on the growth of tourism (spurred by an innovative programme designed to create more direct flights to Cape Town), medical technology as a growth sector and the pursuit of excellence that drives the Cape Winemakers Guild. The journal contains a message from Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities, and contributions from significant business leaders from Accelerate Cape Town, the Cape Chamber of Commerce and the Western Cape Business Opportunities Forum. An interview with Tim Harris, Wesgro’s CEO, reveals some of the recipe for the province’s economic success. Updated information on the Western Cape is also available through our monthly e-newsletter, which you can subscribe to online at www.globalafricanetwork.com, in addition to our complementary business-to-business titles that cover all nine provinces as well as our flagship South African Business title.

Medical innovation is

Medical innovation is solving complex problems Heart valves and posture support wheelchairs are among the Cape’s exciting new inventions. A cheap plastic heart valve, research on radiation treatment of cancer using Gold Nano particles and posture support wheelchairs and positioning devices that allow greater independence and participation of disabled people – these are just some of the inventions and innovations coming out of the Western Cape health research and manufacturing sector. A number of initiatives are supporting this growing sector. The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and PATH, a global non-profit organisation, have teamed up to create the Global Health Innovation Accelerator (GHIA). Based in Cape Town, GHIA aims to support the development of high-impact health innovations such as finding a way to test for anaemia without drawing blood or creating a cheaper and longer-lasting solution to sufferers of epilepsy having to keep expensive kits with them at all times. PATH (Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health) is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Thinta Diagnostics, which focusses on non-invasive medical diagnostics, is a company that receives funding from PATH. An initiative to establish the Cape Health Technology Park (CHTP) will further promote the sector. Located between Pinelands and Ndabeni, the CHTP aims to cluster health-tech firms around existing facilities such as the Life Vincent Palotti Hospital and the Biovac Institute in Alexander Road. Biovac, a public-private partnership, imports, exports, packages, tests and distributes vaccines. More than R500-million has been spent on the facility and 25-million doses of vaccine are delivered every year. Biovac has an impressive list of collaborators: the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, World Health Organization, Sanofi Pasteur of France, bioCSL of Australia, Heber Biotec of Cuba, BioFarma of Indonesia and Pfizer (US). The first two phases of development of the Health Park have been mapped: • Phase one: a new three-storey high-tech Lab and modern office building. Refurbish Block C of the old Psychiatric Hospital for support services. • Phase two: a single-storey Innovation Centre; incubators focussed on Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and a site for testing the possibility of scaling up a project. The Health Park is a partnership between the City of Cape Town, the National Department of Science and WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018 50

SPECIAL FEATURE Technology and Wesgro. This geographic concentration will focus on medical technology. As things stand, the medical industry is quite widely spread around the greater Cape Town area. One of the bestknown companies is Real World Diagnostics, which is in Brackenfell. It makes rapid In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) test kits for drugs, pregnancy, malaria and HIV. The Real World Development Service does research and development and feasibility studies. The three examples from the introduction to this article are based in: • University of Cape Town and Observatory: A cheap plastic heart valve was developed by the Christiaan Barnard Cardiothoracic Surgery Department of the university and the company making the valves is Strait Access Technologies, with headquarters in Observatory. This extraordinary device will undergo clinical trials in 2018. The valve is inserted through a small incision and travels into position propelled by a balloon. It will assist millions of people with rheumatic heart disease. • Faure, between Blue Downs and Khayelitsha: Research on radiation treatment of cancer using Gold Nano particles is happening at iThemba LABS, a National Research Foundation facility. In 2017, iThemba LABS celebrated three decades of operating the Separated Sector Cyclotron (SSC). The SSC produces accelerator-based radiopharmaceuticals and enables the study of the internal structure of atomic nuclei. • Wynberg: Posture support wheelchairs and positioning devices that allow greater independence and participation of disabled people are made by Shonaquip. In 2016 Shonaquip won the Social Enterprise in the Premier’s Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards (PERA). Together with the Uhambo Foundation, Shonaquip forms a social enterprise that makes equipment that caters for the particular needs of disabled people. Buggies and wheelchairs made to modular design make it much easier to customise the product, adjusting for the needs of the user and the terrain. Established in 1992 by Shona McDonald, Shonaquip won an innovation award at the Design Indaba (2014) for the Madiba2Go Buggy and the ECIC/Cape Chamber of Commerce Exporter of the Year competition in 2015. Shonaquip is one of seven companies that are currently members of the Western Cape Medical Devices Cluster, a grouping recognised and funded by the Department of Trade and Industry’s Cluster Development Programme (CDP). The CEO of the Medical Devices Cluster, Allan Howard, says that the key goals of the Cluster in its first phase are to help small businesses get certification, to promote the skills needed in device manufacturing and to settle on a combined approach to advancing the sector. A certification facility at the proposed Health Park would be of great benefit to small companies, allowing them to focus on manufacturing and sales. The Cluster was founded in 2016 with the assistance of several bodies: Wesgro, the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, the National Department of Science and Technology and Kaiser Economic Development Partners. The cluster is the first of its kind in the province. The Western Cape’s other two universities also have companies which focus on the medical or biomedical sector. An example is AzarGen Biotechnologies which was founded by a Stellenbosch University graduate. In partnership with NYSE-listed iBio Inc, the company will develop surfactant protein to treat neonatal respiratory disease syndrome. According to Wesgro, 93% of medical device products are currently imported. 51 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018

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