Page 9 - DUT Excellence Semester 2

SARMSANDDUTBLAZERSUCCESSFULLYLAUNCHED MAGUBANE’S BOOK EXPLORES LOVEIN THE ERA OF
AT THE DUT INNOVATION INDABA GALA DINNER
The Durban University of Technology (DUT), in partnership with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), eThekwini Municipality and the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), hosted the exhilarating 2022 DUT Innovation Indaba at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Durban International Convention Centre (Durban ICC) from Monday, 24 October 2022 to Thursday, 27 October 2022.
The theme of the 2022 DUT Innovation Indaba was:‘Taking academic innovation from idea to marketplace’ and its main objective was to strengthen the research and commercialisation practices for greater socio-economic impact.
The 2022 DUT Innovation Indaba culminated with a Gala Dinner, which included the launch of the South African Research Management System (SARMS) and the unveiling of the new DUT blazer, modelled by the former Mr and Miss DUT, Nkululeko Mbatha and Lungile Ngcobo.
At the Gala Dinner, Prof Keolebogile Motaung, Acting Deputy Vice- Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement, thanked the DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Thandwa Mthembu, all of the delegates, DUT students, DUT academic staff, entrepreneurs, stakeholders, sponsors, partners, Audio-Visual and the DUT team that worked relentlessly to make the Innovation Indaba a success.
The DUT Registrar, Dr Maditsane Nkonoane delivered the official welcome and thanked guests for being part of this last segment of what was a very exciting four days at the 2022 DUT Innovation Indaba. Dr Nkonoane also expressed a special word of acknowledgement to the partners, namely the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Department of Science and Innovation and the eThekwini Municipality, who have, to a very large extent, anchored the Indaba.
Waheeda Peters / Photographer: Khulasande Tshayile
Pictured: Left to right: DUT Registrar, Dr Maditsane Nkonoane, Senior Director of Corporate Affairs at DUT, Mr Alan Khan, winning, DUT engineering student, Mr Musamuhle Mabaso, Prof Keolebogile Motaung, Acting Deputy Vice- Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement, and Zwakele Ngubane. Director: Advancement and Alumni Relations.
“There’s also going to be a pioneering launch of SARMS. We are also going to close the segment with the launch of the official DUT blazer. May I just share with you what inspired the concept of having an official university blazer, a blazer that was designed by a DUT student. It is a home-grown product, again manifesting that this is a great university that has given birth to great minds,” he said.
Dr Nkonoane further explained the inspiration behind the creation of an official blazer.“In 2019, we hosted a staff games function and there was an evening when we had a battle of university blazers, which we hosted at our Sports Centre. About 20 universities from South Africa were present and a number of staff from these universities proudly wore their official university blazers and my colleagues at DUT started confronting me and challenging me saying, but when are we going to have our own? Today we are going to have our own. It’s a great feat worthy of emulation even by our own peers,” he said.
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DUT EXCELLENCE 2022 // SEMESTER 2