Launch Event of the Wits Innovator's Forum

An inspiring evening of awards to inventors, talks from the DVC Research, Prof Helen Laburn, and keynote speaker Prof Kit Vaughn, CEO of CapeRay Medical and professor at UCT, was rounded off by a vibey cocktail function.

The event, sponsored by the Technology Transfer Unit, Wits, and the National IP Management Office, was held in the spacious atrium of the Professional Development Hub, a great venue for the event. The forum brings together those Wits researchers who have invented a new product or service concept, to award inventors and those whose technology invention is licenced to an outside company or organisation. Prof Vaughn, a rare breed of researcher who straddles both the scientific and commercial paradigms, shared 10 lessons he has learned in his journey to protect, manage and commercialise his mammography technology invention.

Future events of the Innovator's Forum will include talks by and pitching sessions to venture capitalists, more inspiring talks by researchers turned entrepreneurs, and other topics to stimulate debate about managing IP and promote Wits' inventions to outside companies.