evidoria

← Back to browse

Good practice Imported

Innovus — Stellenbosch University Technology Transfer & Innovation Office

South Africa · Stellenbosch · See the South Africa profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 89% 48/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Stellenbosch University's tech-transfer office has spun out ~30 companies since 1998; in 2023 the SU Group posted a combined R422 million turnover (+21% y/y) and employed almost 400 people, while a 2020 seed fund became Africa's first university-run fund.

422 million ZAR
SU Group combined turnover (2023)
+21%
Turnover growth (2022-2023, from R348m)
~400
Employees across SU Group (2023)
~6 million ZAR
Dividends received by USE (2023)
49
Provisional patents filed (2019-2023)
54
PCT applications filed (2019-2023)
32
Licences concluded (2019-2023)
47 million ZAR
CubeSpace external funding raised
Innovus — Stellenbosch University Technology Transfer & Innovation Office

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Innovus / University of Stellenbosch Enterprises (USE), Stellenbosch University
Period
1998–present
Keywords
University technology transfer, spin-out companies, seed funding

Context

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.

Results

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, 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.

Conclusions

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), and no separate licensing-royalty revenue figure is published, making it hard to isolate the office's own financial return from spin-out company turnover; a widely repeated '69% survival rate' claim could not be traced to a citable source and is excluded here.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Innovus / University of Stellenbosch Enterprises (USE) technology-transfer staff

Conditions for success

  • USE holds equity in spin-out companies (SU Group model), run continuously since 1998
  • 2020 University Technology Fund, described as Africa's first university-run seed fund of its kind
  • Notable spin-outs such as CubeSpace attracting external investment (R47 million) to expand

Common failure modes

  • Public figures on total spin-out company count are inconsistent across Innovus's own materials (variously ~23, 30 or 32)
  • No separate licensing-royalty revenue figure 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

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

Similar practices you may find useful