Innovus — Stellenbosch University Technology Transfer & Innovation Office

Innovus is Stellenbosch University's technology-transfer and innovation office in South Africa's Western Cape; its commercial arm, University of Stellenbosch Enterprises (USE), holds equity in spin-out companies collectively known as the SU Group, a model that has run continuously since 1998.

In 2023 the SU Group's spin-out companies posted a combined turnover of R422 million, up 21% from R348 million in 2022, employing almost 400 people; USE received close to R6 million in dividends that year. Between 2019 and 2023 alone, Innovus filed 49 provisional patents and 54 PCT applications and concluded 32 licences. Notable spin-outs include CubeSpace (satellite attitude-control systems, which raised R47 million to expand) and SharkSafe Barriers. In 2020, Stellenbosch launched a University Technology Fund described as Africa's first university-run seed fund of its kind.

Public figures on the total number of spin-out companies are inconsistent across Innovus's own materials (variously cited as roughly 23, 30 or 32 depending on period and scope), and no separate licensing-royalty revenue figure — distinct from spin-out company turnover — is published, making it hard to isolate the office's own financial return. A widely repeated "69% survival rate" claim could not be traced to a citable source and is excluded here.

Three decades of continuous operation, a growing and dividend-paying spin-out portfolio, and a pioneering seed-fund model make Innovus a leading and rare example of university technology transfer with real commercial traction on the African continent.

Read the full analysis: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-07-31-stellenbosch-university-shaping-a-brighter-future-through-innovation/