Gauteng – NCIC South Africa

The National Cleantech Innovation Challenge GAUTENG

Smart Mobility Cleantech Challenge

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

Welcome to the NCIC Gauteng Smart Mobility Cleantech Challenge, a flagship initiative under South Africa’s Just Transition to the Future programme. Hosted by Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, this challenge invites innovators to address one of Gauteng’s most pressing issues: the growing mobility crisis.

Johannesburg—the province’s economic hub—is gridlocked with congestion. The average driver loses 141 hours annually, while 60% of households spend more than 10% of their income on public transport. We are seeking post-proof-of-concept digital cleantech solutions that can deliver a smarter, greener, and more inclusive transport future.

This is a unique opportunity to deploy and scale innovations that will significantly impact Gauteng’s economy and improve the quality of life for its residents. By tackling these systemic challenges, your solution can help transform Johannesburg’s transportation landscape, reduce carbon emissions, and establish a sustainable model for other African cities to follow.

Join us in shaping the future of urban mobility.

WHO CAN APPLY

The NCIC Gauteng Smart Mobility Cleantech Challenge is open to a broad range of innovators who meet the following key criteria:

Solution Type: Digital-only cleantech.
Development Stage: Post-proof-of-concept.
Founder Commitment: Demonstrated readiness to scale.
Market and Contextual Fit: Solutions tailored to Gauteng’s mobility ecosystem.

We welcome applications from diverse backgrounds and geographies, provided these core requirements are met.

For full eligibility details, please refer to: Eligibility Criteria.

International applicants may participate in partnership with local registered entities, provided that localization, skills transfer, and job creation are central to the project proposal.

CHALLENGE PROBLEM STATEMENT

Gauteng’s transport system is at a critical crossroads, characterized by heavy reliance on private vehicles and a fragmented public transport network. This has led to severe traffic congestion, imposing significant economic costs and placing an unsustainable financial burden on households—many of which spend a disproportionate share of their income on daily commutes. Additionally, the system’s high carbon footprint undermines urgent climate objectives.

A substantial market gap exists for context-aware, digital cleantech solutions that can thrive within Gauteng’s unique “hybrid” ecosystem, where formal infrastructure coexists with a dominant informal transport sector. There is an urgent need for innovations that are not only technologically advanced but also resilient to local challenges such as grid instability and designed to promote social equity.

This challenge aims to bridge that gap by sourcing and scaling post-proof-of-concept digital solutions with the following objectives:

Accelerate e-mobility adoption by fostering digital platforms that enable equitable access to EV charging infrastructure, addressing grid instability and uneven distribution.
Improve efficiency and accessibility of public transport through real-time tracking, optimized routing, and digital payment systems, with a strong focus on integrating and enhancing the informal minibus taxi sector.
Enable seamless multimodal travel by developing integrated Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platforms that connect formal and informal transport modes into a single, user-friendly interface.
Deploy intelligent traffic management systems leveraging AI and predictive analytics to reduce congestion, lower emissions, and improve safety for all road users, especially vulnerable pedestrians.
Generate actionable data from the largely unmeasured informal transport economy to support evidence-based planning and unlock new economic opportunities.

What We Are Looking For

Post-proof-of-concept, digital-only cleantech solutions with a direct application to smart mobility in Gauteng. We are seeking scalable software platforms, data analytics models, and mobile applications that are ready for pilot implementation. Your solution must demonstrate a clear, measurable environmental benefit and a nuanced understanding of Johannesburg’s unique transport landscape, including the informal economy. We prioritise innovations that are resilient, equitable, and designed to create a sustainable impact on the movement of people and goods in the province.

We Are Not Looking For

This challenge will not consider hardware-centric innovations. This includes the design or manufacturing of physical vehicles, charging station hardware, or road sensors. Early-stage ideas, academic research projects, or solutions that are pre-proof-of-concept are also out of scope. Furthermore, we are not looking for solutions that lack a quantifiable green impact or business models that are not adaptable to the specific infrastructural and socio-economic realities of Gauteng.

About Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct

Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, a university-based hub of Wits University, is a leading incubator for digital innovation in Africa. Our mission is to foster the creation and growth of new digital businesses, create skilled and employable youth, and promote the development of a vibrant digital ecosystem in Gauteng. We provide a collaborative space where innovators, entrepreneurs, and researchers can come together to develop new technologies and solutions that address real-world problems. With access to world-class research, a network of industry partners, and a range of incubation and acceleration programmes, Tshimologong is at the forefront of driving digital transformation in South Africa. Our partnership with uYilo, the national e-mobility programme, further strengthens our expertise and resources in the smart mobility sector, providing a unique platform for innovators to test, validate, and scale their solutions.