BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

The Bellville Innovation and Development Centre (BIDC) is a collaborative business development environment to stimulate innovation, create jobs and develop skills for entrepreneurs, corporates and the community of Bellville.

The area is rich with opportunity, with a pipeline of talent and a large community, but the ability to upskill that community is constrained by educational, financial and physical limitations. There are few dedicated facilities for developing entrepreneurial skills. Lack of co-working space in the northern suburbs means that business owners and innovators are travelling elsewhere, contributing to economies beyond Bellville.

Young people need places where they can co-create and socialise and flexible places to work that facilitate ongoing learning and support the gig economy.

Start-ups and small businesses need affordable, compact office spaces located in more accessible locations.

Educational institutions need off-campus space to conduct experiential research, and to give their students and graduates access to entrepreneurial ecosystems and contemporary ways of working.

Established companies need access to vibrant spaces where they can conduct innovation experiments and connect with talented young people.

Community groups need a space to gather, for training, development and other community-based activities.

The BIDC was conceived to respond to these gaps. It is designed as a multi-functional physical and online environment conceived to establish local institutional capacity to support entrepreneurs and new ventures in Bellville who are involved in developing profitable and locally-appropriate solutions to local socio-economic challenges.

The BIDC is an inclusive physical space in Bellville where entrepreneurs, corporates, academia and the community congregate to work and to stimulate innovation, job creation and skills development.

This project is a manifestation of the core goals of the GTP:

To stimulate a 24-hour economy and to build a virtually and physically connected community.