Strengthening research commercialisation skills in South Africa

Challenge

How do you help researchers turn great ideas into real-world impact, especially in the social sciences, humanities and arts? A UK charity working with partners across South Africa’s university sector asked Oxentia to design and deliver a pilot programme to build practical commercialisation skills and strengthen collaboration between South African and UK institutions. 

• Create and deliver an interactive training programme on generating impact through research commercialisation for selected South African academics and technology transfer teams. 

• Encourage a stronger culture of commercialisation and knowledge exchange across participating South African and UK universities. 

• Build meaningful partnerships through a UK residential programme—sharing best practice, exchanging ideas, and creating learning that participants could take back to their universities through “train-the-trainer” events. 

Approach

Oxentia designed and delivered the Strengthening Commercialisation Skills (SCS) pilot programme between November 2022 and March 2023. The programme combined online learning, peer support and an in-person UK visit to help participants develop practical, institution-ready plans.

• Learn (online workshops): Three interactive 2-hour online sessions for participants from seven South African universities. Each academic joined with a colleague from their university’s technology transfer office (TTO), so research and commercial expertise could be developed side by side.

• Exchange (peer mentoring): Ongoing small-group support to help participants apply learning to their own SHAPE commercialisation projects. The format encouraged peer-to-peer learning and helped teams build confidence to lead activity within their institutions.

• Connect (UK residential programme): A five-day visit (13–17 February 2023) that gave delegates deeper training and first-hand exposure to the UK innovation ecosystem. Participants grew their networks, tested ideas with experts, and explored different routes to impact for SHAPE research.

• Showcase & disseminate (follow-up and resources): An online session to consolidate learning from the programme, plus a co-created set of practical guidelines to help participants run effective train-the-trainer sessions back in South Africa.

Impact

The pilot delivered skills, confidence and practical tools that participants could use immediately within their universities:

• 14 participants developed commercialisation know-how for SHAPE research through training and mentoring.

• Participants went on to deliver train-the-trainer workshops for academics and technology transfer staff at their home universities.

• Oxentia co-produced open, practical guidelines for commercialising research in the humanities, arts and social sciences—so learning from the pilot could be shared more widely.