SARAO hosts Inaugural Innovation Awards in Cape Town
On Monday, 30 March 2026, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) hosted its first-ever Innovation Awards at Liesbeek House, Cape Town.
Hosted by the Innovation Management unit, the event celebrated the internal engineering brilliance and home-grown technologies currently driving the nation’s radio astronomy sector.
The ceremony opened with a welcome from Matlou Mabokano, SARAO Head: Innovation Management, and a virtual keynote address by Dr. Adrian Tiplady, Deputy Managing Director: Strategy and Partnerships, who emphasised how SARAO’s unique ecosystem bridges the gap between complex research and practical, real-world applications.
The event featured three distinct categories highlighting the diversity of SARAO’s internal talent:
- Seed Funding Innovation
Which focused on high-impact projects, including Japie Ludick’s Low-cost Prosthetic Limbs Development – a project with profound humanitarian potential, Steyn Meyer’s Iron Hive Server Array, and Dr Romeo Gamatham’s GPS Calibrator.
- Starbiz Innovation
This category showcased entrepreneurial ventures like Dr Nadeem Oozeer’s TART in a Box, Glen Taylor’s CNC Minimill, and Christo Visser’s Handheld Bluetooth Detector.
- Engineering Innovation
This category focused on innovation stemming from the Software department and highlighted essential operational systems developed by Pieter Pretorius (Visitors Management System which is currently in use at the SARAO office) and Ofaletse Mokone (Software Functional Management) for being a leader that allows and nurtures an environment for innovation to happen.
The programme concluded with an address by Keitumetse Molamu, SARAO Head of Engineering, on the vital role of engineering in institutional growth, followed by a vote of thanks from Dr. Munkombwe Muchindu, Senior Commercialisation Specialist at SARAO.
This milestone event was made possible through the strategic collaboration of the Communications, Supply Chain, and Business IT offices, marking a new chapter in SARAO’s commitment to fostering a culture of technical excellence.
