You should not forget the key role of the late Christo Viljoen in the establishment of Technopark. As dean of Engineering at our University he saw such developments at foreign institutions, Leuven in Belgium in particular. He convinced the then mayor of Stellenbosch, Piet Lombard (also at the University as head of public relations) to get the municipality to donate municipal land south of the town. In the 1980's the project stood still because of the political situation in the country, but the 1990's saw it coming to life. As rector and vice-chancellor of our University I helped convince the Municipality to allow commercial enterprises in Technopark (like Capitec Bank) as well. These were then followed by start-ups from the military environment, linked to the faculty of Engineering. The rest of the success story is well-known, but Christo's visionary role should never be forgotten.
Andreas, thank you for this important insight. I had known about Christo's role in the creation of Technopark - indeed, I was sure I had written about it earlier - but I now see that in my previous translated version I never included his name (https://www.ourlongwalk.com/p/why-the-western-cape-is-growing-faster). Anyway, you're 100% correct that this is a great example of not only the private sector but also the public (at different levels) contributing to innovation. And it often requires visionaries who can spot future developments long before the rest of us can, and have the energy and motivation to drive such change.
You should not forget the key role of the late Christo Viljoen in the establishment of Technopark. As dean of Engineering at our University he saw such developments at foreign institutions, Leuven in Belgium in particular. He convinced the then mayor of Stellenbosch, Piet Lombard (also at the University as head of public relations) to get the municipality to donate municipal land south of the town. In the 1980's the project stood still because of the political situation in the country, but the 1990's saw it coming to life. As rector and vice-chancellor of our University I helped convince the Municipality to allow commercial enterprises in Technopark (like Capitec Bank) as well. These were then followed by start-ups from the military environment, linked to the faculty of Engineering. The rest of the success story is well-known, but Christo's visionary role should never be forgotten.
Andreas van Wyk
Andreas, thank you for this important insight. I had known about Christo's role in the creation of Technopark - indeed, I was sure I had written about it earlier - but I now see that in my previous translated version I never included his name (https://www.ourlongwalk.com/p/why-the-western-cape-is-growing-faster). Anyway, you're 100% correct that this is a great example of not only the private sector but also the public (at different levels) contributing to innovation. And it often requires visionaries who can spot future developments long before the rest of us can, and have the energy and motivation to drive such change.
Key words: visionaries. Thank you Johan and Andreas for sharing your thoughts.