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Engineering the Future
Research at UCT contributes to cutting-edge developments in various technologies
and scientific discoveries, from information and communications technology and
biotechnology to mining beneficiation, that are crucial to the advancement of the
South African economy.
With a fast-developing economy pursuing sustainable
growth, the South African national research and
development strategy has come to emphasise innovation
– in particular, commercially viable innovation of relevance
to economic growth and wealth creation. This requires
a substantial investment in the development of new
technologies and capacity that will enable the country to
convert its undisputed research expertise into social and
economic advantages.
As one of the country’s leading universities, UCT is deeply
committed to this national research and development
strategy and to pursuing sustainable development.
The Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment at UCT
is very active in this regard and is rated as one of the finest
on the continent. It has the highest number of NRF-rated
engineering academics in South Africa and has strong links
with industry and government agencies, which provide
significant funding for a variety of research projects.
The faculty is recognisedas aworld leader in key engineering
technologies such as synthesis gas technology, fuel cell
technology and hydrogen.
To strengthen this already strong research focus, UCT
was awarded two new South African Research Chairs in
Engineering in 2012, one in Reaction Engineering and
the other in Industrial Computational Fluid Dynamics.
These new Chairs, together with existing research
programmes spanning UCT’s strategic initiatives and
research groupings, will actively support the broad
South African process industries: the bioprocess,
chemical, energy, food, petrochemical and mineral-
processing industries, which represent a substantial
component of the nation’s gross domestic product.
Whereas manufacturing is the largest contributor to
national GDP, chemical manufacturing is the largest
sub-sector and UCT is at the forefront of driving
innovation in this area.
There is also a strong emphasis on sustainability
research as well as on developing green technology,
such as wind-turbine technology and solar energy,
amongst others. Another interesting focus with a
global component is on impacts and explosions. Two
current major worldwide concerns are unexploded
landmines and protection against terrorist activity.
Highly publicised acts of terrorism such as 9/11 and,
most recently, the Boston marathon bombing, have
raised awareness of the increased need for protection,
and UCT’s Blast Impact and Survivability Research Unit
is leading a number of projects which seek to study the
effect of explosive devices.
Bridging the innovation chasm is a national imperative and
it demands a collaborative response from government,
industry and universities. Advances in engineering at
UCT are made possible by significant investment from
government via the DST/NRF SARChI Chairs, a Centre of
Excellence as well as a national Centre of Competence,
and the Department of Trade and Industry’s Technology
and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP),
which provides critical industry partnerships.
Working with such partners, UCT plans to continue to
rise to the challenge of transforming innovation and
research into commercially viable products and services
and creating new industries to drive economic growth on
the continent.
Bridging the innovation chasm is a
national imperative and it demands
a collaborative response from gov-
ernment, industry and universities.