Unit for Research and Innovation

 

 

The vision of the Central University Technology, Free State (CUT) is to be “a globally connected African university of technology that focuses on the needs of Southern Africa and support graduates for citizenship with skills and competencies in appropriate technologies.”

 

Mindful of the drivers of this vision, the Unit for Research and Innovation supports this vision through the creation and implementation of new knowledge. Core to new knowledge creation is the innovative nature of knowledge. Innovative knowledge simply means that knowledge is created differently from the linear

fashion in which knowledge is normally created.

 

Scientific innovation calls for the cross-fertilisation between different disciplines together with the immediate needs of the economy (entrepreneurship and commercialisation). Innovative knowledge contributes to what is commonly

known as usefulness knowledge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prof Laetus Lategan

Dean of Research and Innovation

Tel: +27 51 507 3279

Fax: +27 51 507 3275

E-mail: llategan@cut.ac.za

 

 

Currently, the Unit for Research and Innovation consists out of these divisions:

 

Technology and Innovation	Library and Information Services
Prof Jorrie Jordaan	Mr J M Kabamba
Director: Technology and Innovation	University Librarian
Tel: +27 51 507 3658	Tel: +27 51 507 3141
E-mail: gjordaan@cut.ac.za	E-mail: Jkabamba@cut.ac.za

 

Community Engagement

 

Mrs Jeeva Munsamy

Community Engagement Manager

Tel: +27 51 507 3583

E-mail: jmunsamy@cut.ac.za

 

 

The Unit for Research and Innovation wants to contribute towards a stimulated academic heartland that will contribute towards citizenship with skills and competencies in appropriate technologies.

 

Research and Development

Focus of research and development

Institutional research development

Institutional structures for the management of research development

Research policies and procedures

Research and development plan

Research programmes

CUT Research Grants

Research publications

 

Technology and Innovation

Technology Transfer

Innovation

 

Library and Information Services

LIS goals

Collection development section

Cataloguing section

Information Section

Circulations Section

Systems Development Section

 

Community Engagement

 

Research and Development

 

 

Focus of research and development

 

The core values informing the research at the CUT are:

 

·          Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) and the management of SET research

·          Applied research informed by industry/business problems

·          Partnerships with industry/business/government (“triple helix”)

·          Knowledge production in the context of Mode 2 Knowledge Generation

·          Scholarship in teaching and research

·          Research projects leading to SET qualifications

·          Income generation through research

·          Entrepreneurship through innovation

 

This strategy of the CUT is in line with the National Plan on Higher Education (NPHE, 2001) which identifies two particular outcomes for research:

·          Outcome 13: Research concentration and funding linked to outputs.

·          Outcome 14: Increased graduate enrolments and outputs at the masters and doctoral level.

Concrete strategies are formulated for the CUT to meet these outcomes. The strategies are:

·          To increase the number of research outputs in accredited journals

·          To facilitate the through-put of postgraduate students in the minimum time

·          To sustain and promote research through public and private funding

·          To promote regional collaboration

 

In essence, the research development at the CUT will be directed at:

 

·          Enhancing the scholarly work of the established researchers at the institution.

·          Building capacity amongst the new researchers of the institution.

·          Expanding the enrolment in the M & D Degree students at the institution.

·          Developing research into a sustainable third stream of income.

 

Institutional research development

 

Since 2002 the Office for Research and Development was positioned as an academic support service. The main purpose of this Office is therefore to facilitate all research and to support the development of research at the CUT. Following on this objective, the management of research development is directed at the support of the following activities:

 

h	Projects for non-qualification purposes
h	Research projects leading to postgraduate qualifications
h	The development of research skills of staff and students through seminars, workshops, personal interaction and publication opportunities
h	The marketing of research activities
h	Partnerships with public and private funding agencies and regional, national and international universities
h	The raising of external funds for research
h	Research publications (in-house journal, scientific journal, research books, newsletters, brochures and annual report)
h	General research and financial administration
h	Budget for research development
h	Research Developmental policies and procedures

 

Institutional structures for the management of research development

 

The Office for Research and Development’s main function is to facilitate the sustainable development of research and postgraduate studies. This function is supported by the following structures:

 

Graduate School Board		h	Assessing the quality of postgraduate programmes.
	è	h	Measuring the development of supervisors.
		h	Measuring the progress in enrolment, retention and through-put of postgraduate students

 

Central Research Committee		h	Assessing the quality of research projects.
		h	Assessing the quality of publications.
		h	Measuring the increase in research outputs.
	è	h	Identifying strategic research initiatives.
		h	Drafting the research budget.
		h	Measuring the progress with Three Year Rolling Plan and NPHE objectives.
		h	Identifying criteria for contract researchers.
		h	Identifying criteria for post-doctoral fellows.
		h	Identifying criteria for attending national conferences.
		h	Identifying criteria for attending international conferences.
		h	Identifying criteria for research collaboration.

 

Research Grants Awards Committee		h	Awarding of bursaries (full-time / part-time postgraduate students)
	è	h	Awarding of project cost.
		h	Awarding of awards for research not leading to qualifications.
		h	Awarding of scholarships for post-doctoral fellows.
		h	Promoting research equity.
		h	Drafting the research budget.

 

Research policies and procedures

 

Research activities are managed according to the following policies and procedures. The policy and procedures are:

 

h	The regulation, recruitment and appointment of postdoctoral research fellows.
h	The recruitment and appointment of research fellows.
h	Ownership of equipment bought for research projects.
h	Research Grant Award.
h	Remuneration of researchers for accredited research outputs.
h	Attendance of international research conferences, congresses, symposia and workshops.
h	The attendance of academic conferences in South Africa .
h	Awarding of research awards/prizes.
h	The administration of the pay-out for research projects.
h	Postgraduate equity.

 

Research and development plan

 

A Research and Development Plan was approved for 2005 – 2010. The objectives of the plan are:

 

Objective 1: The development of staff and student researchers

Objective 2: Postgraduate retention and throughput

Objective 3: Increase in accredited publications

Objective 4: Accreditation of Journal for New Generation Sciences

Objective 5: Sustainability of existing external funded research projects

Objective 6: Ongoing development of new SET research niche areas

Objective 7: Develop and sustain partnerships with public and private funding agencies and regional, national and international universities

Objective 8: Develop and sustain partnerships with business and industry

Objective 9: Increase the income through research projects

Objective 10: Develop postdoctoral research fellows as future research fellows of the CUT

Objective 11: Market the CUT as regional leader in SET research

Objective 12: Develop opportunities to read papers at national and international conferences

Objective 13: Measuring the impact of the research

 

Research programmes

 

The CUT has identified ten strategic SET research programmes (focus programmes) which can be clustered into three foci. Some of these programmes have already earned external funding and have identified initiatives to be sustained within the next three years. Benchmarks for focus programmes are the number of postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, amount of external funding, number of active researchers, rated researchers, research publications (books, articles, published conference proceedings and reports). These research programmes and their foci are:

 

Research Focus	Research Programme
Industrial design, communication and development	·          New product development and design ·          Automated material handling and radio frequency identification ·          Hydro-informatics ·          Information and Communication Technology
Quality of health and living	·          Applied food safety and biotechnology ·          Bio-environmental studies ·          Applied health technology
People and skills development	·          Socio-economic development studies ·          Education (sub -themes: medical education, general education, service learning, technical and technological education) ·          Research education

 

CUT Research Grants

 

A valuable support system for staff and postgraduate students is the CUT’s Research Grants Awards System. The purpose of this scheme is to create a research culture, empower staff and students to be engaged in research and to address equity in research. Ten categories of bursaries are awarded:

·          Full-time postgraduate students

·          Part-time postgraduate students

·          Staff studying for a postgraduate qualification at the CUT

·          Post-doctoral fellows

·          Research fellows/associates

·          Project cost

·          Top-up funding for external research projects

·          Seed money for a research activity to be developed into a niche area

·          Research assistance related to the development of an activity into a niche area

·          The development of externally funded projects

 

Research publications

 

The CUT offers the following research publications (journals and research series):

 

·          An in-house publication, Interim, published twice a year. The goal of the journal is to give new researchers the opportunity to publish their research and senior researchers to publish work in progress. These articles are all peer-reviewed to expose researchers to the peer-review process (ISSN 1648-498X).

 

·          An interdisciplinary journal, Journal for New Generation Sciences, published twice a year. This journal is a Department of Higher Education and Training accredited research publication (ISSN 1684-4998).

 

·          Research Made Easy and Doing Research. The purpose of this series is to provide hands-on and best practice solutions for researchers to engage in the research process.

 

·          Research monographs. The aim of this series is to publish scholarly monographs in theoretical and applied research.

 

Technology and Innovation

 

The Technology and Innovation unit, as an element of the Office for Research and Innovation of the CUT, is primarily involved in the following spheres of influence:

 

Technology Transfer

 

The unit is responsible for the facilitation of the transfer of new technology, irrespective of the field of application, to business and industry. A good example of this activity is with respect to additive manufacturing technologies – formerly known as rapid prototyping. The Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CRPM) embarked on a process of developing its infrastructure and skills-base in this area about ten years ago, at a time when this was cutting edge technology with only approximately three such machines in South Africa. During this time CUT’s position in this field of specialization improved to such an extent that it became the leader in terms of such technology in South Africa. This created a position where the rapid prototyping principles introduced by CRPM to South Africa, became accepted by the local industry to such an extent that there are approximately 200 such machines in South Africa at the moment, whilst the utilization of such is starting to have a very important impact on the local prototyping and manufacturing economy. Revolutionary technology was accessed by CUT and subsequently introduced and spun out – hence transferred – by this unit to the South African manufacturing community. The same principle holds true for new product development processes under the auspices of the Product Development Technology Station (PDTS).

 

Innovation

 

The ideal would be for completed research by CUT researchers to be commercialized in the form of new inventions. Hence, the Technology and Innovation unit is supporting staff and students with the protection of intellectual property and by providing incubation facilities and commercialization support. This normally takes place by incubation on campus in the institutional incubation facility, but also off-campus through the formation of a so-called virtual incubator. In many cases entrepreneurs are also technically supported through structures such as the Product Development Technology Station.

 

There are two primary goals in addition to the commercialization of completed research that CUT is striving for in terms of innovation, namely support with the establishment of new enterprises by Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME’s) - both on and off campus - and assistance to corporate entities with the development of new products and processes. Lastly the unit is also taking part, on behalf of CUT, in the support of the Free State Provincial Government’s Regional Innovation Centre with the aim of improving the standard of living of the inhabitants of the province.

 

In particular, the following units report to the Director: Technology and Innovation:

 

·          Incubator: Support is provided to staff, students and new start-up enterprises or SMME’s – that might, or might not be making use of the services of CRPM or PDTS - with respect to the formal establishment of viable enterprises, development of products for commercialization and assistance with the identification of funding mechanisms to support such endeavours. Available knowledge with respect to the commercialization and funding of innovation is availed in the interest of the CUT and regional economic development in general. These activities include renting of office space in the Science Park Incubator to new start-up enterprises in an attempt to the launch of new enterprises. These entities are accommodated for a maximum period of three years, bearing in mind that the preferred nature of business activities in the incubator is in the field of high-technology and innovation.

 

·          CRPM: The Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing provides support to industry with the development of prototypes and additive manufacturing activities on a commercial basis. It also supports research activities in the Faculty of Engineering.

 

·          PDTS: The Product Development Technology Station is a Government-funded initiative to support SMME’s with the development of new products, as well as introducing them to new product development processes.

 

·          Fablab: The Fablab provides the opportunity for learners and other people with similar needs, to become au fait with modern manufacturing techniques and technologies. Using these they can produce models of potential innovations and determine its viability.

 

·          MDIP: It is hoped that MRC funding will become available for the establishment of a Medical Device Innovation Platform at CUT. This entity will function under the auspices of the Technology and Innovation unit – especially with respect to financial and administrative issues.

 

 

Library and Information Services

 

In pursuit of the broader vision of CUT and to accomplish the strategic goals of its mission the Library and Information Services (LIS) will take leadership position to provide the information resources, technological platform, study space and information skills necessary to attain excellence in CUT endeavours.

 

LIS goals

 

·          Teaching and learning; provision and promotion of access to comprehensive and up-to-date information tailored for CUT programmes to maintain high student throughput.

·          Information skills; development of academic information skills for students and staff to foster ‘access and success’ and evolve a culture of independent and life long learning.

·          Research; offer high quality information resources that will enhance and sustain the research capacity of CUT at all levels.

·          Information and Communication Technology; adoption of state-of-the-art technologies to ensure that CUT remains in the forefront of managing information, create gateways to global information and develop institutional digital repository.

·          Infrastructure; maintenance, upgrading and modernisation LIS building and facilities for all categories of clients, including the disabled, to create a conducive environment for learning, teaching, research, communication and leisure.

·          Partnership; forge partnerships with communities of practice and collaborate with other institutions at local, regional, national and international levels in sharing information resources and expertise.

·          Quality control and assurance; comply with institutional, national and international standards in the management of information resources, provide high standards of service and ensure cost effectiveness and efficiency in LIS operations.

 

Collection development section

 

This is a centralized section intended to manage the procurement of library resources in print and electronic format for all campuses. The unit is responsible for identifying suppliers of library resources and place orders for materials as required. Key activities include ensuring that that CUT get the “best value for money,’ maintain customer relationships, check that the ‘right’ materials are supplied, follow up on orders not delivered, handling of invoices, maintain a database of library transactions, monitoring and control of library book budget and liaising with the purchasing department and academics on material purchases.

 

Cataloguing section

 

The purpose of this section is to develop and maintain metadata of the LIS resources. This is done by creating and downloading of bibliographic records onto the library Innopac system. Ultimately these records serve as access points of available library resources in print and electronic media. This is a highly specialized outfit in which quality assurance and strict adherence to national and international standards are paramount to proper functioning of the section. Mistakes made could lead to corruption of data and may render the library catalogue ineffective in identifying or keeping track of library resources. Other responsibilities include upgrading of catalogue, processing of acquired documents, stocktaking and weeding of materials. This is yet another centralized service for all campuses.

 

Information Section

 

The responsibilities of this section are two fold. In the first place the section ensures that staff and students have the necessary knowledge and skills to make better use of LIS resources. A key driver to administer this scheme is the Personal Information management (PIM) programme. PIM is an information literary programme structured to enable students to identify information needs, retrieve, use, and evaluate information from a variety of sources. This programme is critical to resource based learning as it seek to promote critical thinking, independent learning and academic writing styles. Computer labs are purposely designed for training. The second part of this section concentrates on providing information services for researchers especially academics and post graduate students. Information services offered include in-depth information searches on specific study areas. Searches extend beyond resources available at CUT and often include use of full text database of international repute. Interlibrary lending services are also offered in this section.

 

Circulations Section

 

This section is responsible for managing lending services and clients’ relationships. The Circulations section is responsible for issuing of library materials ensuring that materials are returned in time and maintained in usable state. Other activities include keeping record of material transactions of library clients, sending reminders to return material, issuing notices/and charging for overdue materials. The Circulations section also maintains the database of clients, issue personnel and student cards, handles general enquiries in the library and manages study space and book shelves. A limited collection of ‘Reserved Materials’ is also managed by the Circulations department.

 

Systems Development Section

 

Systems Development is a centralised service that has three parts:

·        The first relates to maintenance of the Innopac library system. Innopac is an integrated library software tool, used to manage all the cataloguing, acquisitions, circulations programmes of the library. The Systems office liaises with service providers and heads of service sections to handle maintenance and upgrades. This office is also responsible for trouble shooting and updates library management on new developments on the software.

·        The second part of the section deals with management of the Electronic Resources Access Centre (ERAC). Located on the second floor of the library building, the ERAC facility provides access to electronic resources via the Internet, e-Thuto, as well as access to the Microsoft Office applications.

·        The third part is directed at managing the subscriptions to the various electronic resources the LIS subscribes to. The electronic resources include databases, electronic journals and electronic books. Next to this process is the maintenance of the LIS website which is used as a tool to make above-mentioned resources accessible to the LIS clients, as well as to publicise library resources and alert clients to new developments and important links to useful information.

Community Engagement

The CUT views community engagement (CE) as one of the three pillars in its delivery of services. It is integral to Teaching and Learning and Research and is not viewed as a silo on its own. CUT endeavours to work at intersecting levels in CE which would afford our graduates an enriched experience, a great sense of civic responsibility and an ability to apply theory of their fields of study to local development issues.

Many of the initiatives go beyond voluntarism and include community-university research partnerships such as the Breast Milk project with Red Cross whereby the nutritional content of HIV+ mothers breast milk is assessed and compared with HIV- mothers breast milk, service learning namely teaching children at Andy’s Creche in Pieter Swart the importance of handwashing and education on transmission of germs, work integrated learning - through community service viz Somatology - either at CUT Salon or its partnerships such as salons in the Central Business District (CBD). CUT’s community engagement initiatives are co-ordinated through its Community Engagement Office.

The Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) gives the following definition of community engagement, which is used as a basic reference in most Higher Education Institutions in South Africa. Community engagement refers to the “initiatives and processes through which the expertise of the institution in the areas of teaching and research are applied to address issues relevant to its community. CE typically finds expression in a variety of forms, ranging from informal and relatively unstructured activities to formal and structured academic programmes addressed at particular community needs (service-learning programmes) and some projects might be conducive towards the creation of a better environment for CE and others might be directly related to teaching, learning and research.”