Innovation Fund Scale-up Beyond Pilot Phase
Theme: Venture finance
Assessment
Responsible: Department of Science, Innovation and Technology / Innovation Fund / IDC / PIC
Feasibility Assessment
Medium-term, moderate cost. Legislative mandate formalisation is priority. PIC co-investment requires amended investment mandate. University technology transfer capacity is the pipeline constraint.
Description
The South African Innovation Fund (IF), established by the DSIT in 2019 as a blended finance vehicle to commercialise university and CSIR research, completed its pilot phase (R1.4 billion committed to 42 portfolio companies) in 2023. Scale-up to R5 billion by 2027—as recommended by the PC on Science and Technology BRRRBRRR — Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report: The annual report each parliamentary portfolio committee must produce assessing its department's spending and performance, carrying recommendations that National Treasury is obliged to respond to. Required by the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act (2009), the BRRR is the clearest yearly record of what a committee thinks its department is failing at. 2024—requires: a permanent legislative mandate (the IF currently operates under a company structure rather than a statutory framework), co-investment from the PIC and IDC, stronger deal pipeline from universities (through the Technology Transfer Office network), and a dedicated growth-stage fund for companies that have outgrown the IF's early-stage focus but are too small for IDC commercial finance. The DSIT's STI Decadal Plan 2022–2032 sets a 1.5% of GDPGDP — Gross Domestic Product: The total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country's borders in a given period. The primary measure of an economy's size and overall output. R&D target, and the Innovation Fund is the vehicle for translating public R&D expenditure into commercial outcomes. South Africa currently commercialises less than 4% of university patents—the OECD average is 18%.
Referenced in OECD Economic Surveys: South Africa
OECD SA Survey (2017, 2020, 2022, 2025). Related reform area identified across OECD surveys.
The Innovation Fund's pilot demonstrated that blended public-private funding can build an investable startup ecosystem, but pilot scale is too small to shift the needle on commercialisation of SA's R&D base. — PC on Science, Technology and Innovation BRRR, 2024
Parliamentary record
3 meetingsCommittee sittings this reform was drawn from, most recent first. Each row opens the meeting on this site; the PMG link goes to the source record.
Science, Technology and Innovation
27 May 2025Innovation Fund pilot phase impementation: DSTI briefing
Science, Technology and Innovation
13 May 2025DSTI programmes that support youth innovators, and the Innovation Fund
Science, Technology and Innovation
13 May 2025Initiatives that support youth innovators and Innovation Fund: DSTI & TIA briefing; with Deputy Minister
How to cite
Wilse-Samson, L. (2026). Innovation Fund Scale-up Beyond Pilot Phase. SA Policy Space. Retrieved 24 August 2026, from https://sa-policy-space.vercel.app/ideas/innovation-fund-scale-up-beyond-pilot-phase?snapshot=2026-08-24
Status History
tracked since Mar 2026- Recorded as Partially implemented when status tracking began — held since at least Mar 2026.Mar 2026
Data as of 2026-08-24 · latest PMG meeting 2026-08-21