Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct — Wits University's Braamfontein Tech Hub

Tshimologong ('new beginnings' in Setswana) is a digital innovation precinct wholly owned by the University of the Witwatersrand, occupying roughly half a city block on Juta Street in Braamfontein, inner-city Johannesburg. Launched on 1 September 2016 after three years of development under Professor Barry Dwolatzky of the Wits Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE), the precinct combines co-working space, computer labs, maker spaces and a creative-content studio inside a previously under-used inner-city block — an explicit bet on regenerating Braamfontein through digital-economy activity rather than conventional redevelopment.

The precinct aims to regenerate inner-city Braamfontein by anchoring a startup incubator and digital-skills academy, while also giving Johannesburg an integrated corporate research presence.

The precinct hosts what its founders describe as the first IBM Research Lab anywhere in the world tightly integrated into an innovation hub. Its flagship incubation and acceleration programme, launched in 2017 with support from JPMorgan Chase, works with entrepreneurs on business development. A separate digital-skills initiative, the DS4JI II programme run with MindCiti and the Digital Creative Industries ecosystem, trains unemployed youth in market-ready gamification and digital skills.

The JPMorgan-backed programme has incubated 105 startups and worked with 172 entrepreneurs since 2017. The DS4JI II digital-skills initiative reports 70% female participation.

These are figures self-published by the precinct and its university owner rather than results from an independent evaluation; no public data on graduate startups' survival rates, revenue growth or the DS4JI programme's employment outcomes was found. Tshimologong is also a single site — its digital-skills reach is real but modest set against Johannesburg's youth unemployment, and its funding blends university ownership with donor and embassy partners (JPMorgan Chase, and the French, German, Irish and British embassies) rather than a diversified revenue base.