Deputy Minister Gina urges responsible innovation at DUT Student Leadership Week
The Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ms Nomalungelo Gina, has once again called on South Africa’s young leaders to embrace innovation responsibly and prepare themselves to steer the country into a technology-driven future.
The Deputy Minister was speaking at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) on Friday, 27 September, during the university’s second annual Student Leadership Week (SLW) under the theme “Future Leaders: Building Tomorrow’s Successful Leaders Today”.
A few weeks ago, during the BRICS Innovation Challenge at the University of Johannesburg, the Deputy Minister highlighted a similar message of the pivotal role that universities play in harnessing technology for a better tomorrow.
Reiterating the same message at the Durban University of Technology, Ms Gina said universities are uniquely placed to anchor innovation ecosystems, drive research commercialisation, and develop visionary leaders who can respond to the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The Student Leadership Week is designed to empower student leaders with the essential tools, knowledge, and experiences necessary to cultivate robust leadership skills, thereby fostering a new generation of visionary leaders.
Ms Gina emphasised that leadership must go beyond academic excellence and be anchored in ethical values, empathy, and a commitment to inclusive growth. “Universities are not just about academic development, but about cultivating leaders whose impact will be felt across business, government, and society. The leadership that we build today will define the future of our nation.”
The Deputy Minister reflected on the event’s theme, noting that frontier technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing are transforming the global landscape, and that South Africa cannot afford to be left behind.
“For South Africa, embracing these technologies is not optional; it is essential for our development, industrialisation, and the building of an inclusive society,” she emphasised, calling on the university to position itself as an anchor of innovation ecosystems in KwaZulu-Natal, comparable to institutions in other provinces.
As she stated during the BRICS Innovation Week at UJ, she urged DUT to collaborate closely with the government in translating research outputs into commercial products and services, using instruments such as Seed Fund, which helps innovators at universities and small enterprises develop prototypes for commercialisation, and the National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO), which ensures that publicly funded research is appropriately identified, protected, and commercialised for national benefit.
