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The Innovation Hub, the innovation agency of the Gauteng province, has opened applications for this year’s edition of the annual Gauteng Accelerator Programme (GAP) innovation competition.

The GAP innovation competition targets innovators, researchers and entrepreneurs in the ICT, green, biotech and medical industries working on novel technologies and services that will accelerate the efficiency of government service delivery, increase the competitiveness of the local economy and enhance the quality of life of ordinary citizens.

For the past six years, the competitions have attracted more than 500 entries and invested over ZAR10 million (US$800,000) in seed funding and incubation support to 55 startups. GAP competitions have five categories, each reflective of The Innovation Hub’s priority sectors.

The GAP Green challenge is run in collaboration with the South African Climate Innovation Centre South Africa, and seeks emerging entrepreneurs developing green technology solutions related to energy security, water management, waste and sanitation, sustainable mobility and food security, while GAP Biosciences is run with the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and assists scientists and entrepreneurs to pursue commercially viable opportunities for their cutting-edge bioscience technologies.

GAP ICT, meanwhile, aims to identify researchers and entrepreneurs working on ICT-based solutions to South Africa’s biggest challenges, with GAP Medical, also run in partnership with the TIA, focused on identifying and nurturing health innovations that will contribute to the improvement of health service delivery within hospitals.

Meanwhile, the Gauteng Accelerator Township Economy (GATE) competition is aimed at identifying and nurturing township-based innovations that can contribute to growth and development in township economy, improvement of service delivery within government, and promote productivity in the overall economy of the province and the country in line with the Township Economy Revitalisation Strategy of the Gauteng province.

Entrepreneurs interested in entering the competitions can download entry forms online via the GAP website. The closing date for the competition is June 15, and the competition will conclude in November.

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