Cortex Hub

Cortex Hub Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Cortex Hub, 33 Church Street, East London.
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We are the Cortex Hub, an Eastern Cape based tech hub growing entrepreneurs through incubation and acceleration, and activating enterprise and supplier development to build a thriving Africa technology ecosystem.

Team Ctrl + V - 1st Prize Congratulations to Phemelo Mashome, Luyanda Sekwane, Kwanele Ngcamu, and Karabo Mokgotloa, tak...
30/08/2026

Team Ctrl + V - 1st Prize

Congratulations to Phemelo Mashome, Luyanda Sekwane, Kwanele Ngcamu, and Karabo Mokgotloa, taking 1st place at the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon in the Mining and Renewable Energy track!

This team built an IoT powered mining safety solution, tackling one of the most critical challenges facing the industry. In a region that is home to more than 77% of the world’s known on land manganese resources, mining safety isn’t a side issue, it’s central to protecting the people who power one of the most significant mining regions on the planet. Their solution uses real time, connected monitoring to help detect risk before it becomes harm, showing how technology can directly protect lives on the ground.

From problem statement to prototype to pitch, this team combined strong technical ex*****on with a clear understanding of what matters most in mining: the people doing the work.

Congratulations to our 1st place winners! 👏🏆

MiningSafety IoT

Team Dust 2 Data - 2nd Prize 🏆

Congratulations to Patrick Mamela Abbi, Lwanele Nkosi, Nengome Mpfariseni, and Mehluli Ryan Shabangu, taking 2nd place at the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon in the Mining and Renewable Energy track!

Going a step further than a mockup, this team brought their solution to life as a fully working prototype, focused on solar panel maintenance, proving their concept could actually function in the real world, not just on paper. By tackling upkeep and performance monitoring, they addressed one of the most overlooked barriers to solar reliability in remote areas. From problem statement to prototype to pitch, they demonstrated sharp technical thinking paired with a genuine understanding of the communities they’re building for.

Congratulations to team Dust 2 Data! 👏

SolarEnergy IoT

Team MadTechNC - 3rd Prize 🏆

congratulations to Gladwin Reabaka Legobane, Nomusa Geco, Sipho Gumbo, and Millecent Tlhageng, taking 3rd place at the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon in the Mining and Rene

29/08/2026

Pitching is LIVE at the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon! Teams are on stage, solutions on show

MICT SETA The Cortex Hub mLab Sol Plaatje University

The moment teams have been building toward 🚀 participants are now on stage pitching their solutions, from Mining and Ren...
29/08/2026

The moment teams have been building toward 🚀 participants are now on stage pitching their solutions,
from Mining and Renewable Energy to Agriculture and Agro Processing, FinTech, and Transport, Trade and Fisheries, each team is making the case for how their AI and IoT solution solves a real problem for rural communities in the Northern Cape.

Insight, prototype, and now the pitch. Watch this space for the results at the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon.

Sol Plaatje University mLab

Why IoT Matters Here?At Day 2 of the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon, IoT isn’t just a buzzword on the t...
29/08/2026

Why IoT Matters Here?

At Day 2 of the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon, IoT isn’t just a buzzword on the track list, it’s one of the most practical tools for solving rural landscape challenges.

In a region like the Northern Cape, where distances are vast and infrastructure is often limited, IoT means real time data from remote places that used to run blind: soil sensors that tell farmers exactly when to irrigate, monitoring devices that flag equipment faults on a mine before they become costly failures, trackers that follow goods and vehicles across long trade routes with no reliable connectivity in between.

That’s the shift teams are mocking up right now. Not IoT for its own sake, but IoT as the eyes and ears of communities that have historically had to make decisions with far less information than they deserved.

Sol Plaatje University mLab

28/08/2026

Problem statements locked in!

SolPlaatjeUniversity

Teams at the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon are deep in the design thinking phase, mapping user needs, ch...
28/08/2026

Teams at the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon are deep in the design thinking phase, mapping user needs, challenging assumptions, and reframing rural landscape problems before writing a single line of code.

From Mining and Renewable Energy to FinTech, Agriculture and Transport, Trade and Fisheries, every team is starting where great innovation always starts: empathy for the people they’re building for.

The Northern Cape’s next generation of tech talent is proving that the best solutions begin with the right questions. “How might we use AI and IoT to help rural communities in the Northern Cape unlock opportunity in ways that are practical, accessible and sustainable for the people who live here?”

Sol Plaatje University

28/08/2026

IT’S HERE! The MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon has officially kicked off at Sol Plaatje University, Northern Cape!

Innovators from across the country are converging to tackle real challenges in Mining and Renewable Energy, Agriculture and Agro Processing, FinTech, and Transport, Trade and Fisheries, all under the banner of AI and IoT Solutions for Rural Landscapes.

Follow along as the provincial talent competes for a R200,000 prize pool over the coming days.

SkillsDevelopment

The MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon Bootcamps are officially underway!Today, we kicked off with FinTech fo...
25/08/2026

The MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon Bootcamps are officially underway!

Today, we kicked off with FinTech for Rural Landscapes, hosted by the UCT Finance and Innovation Hub, bringing together aspiring innovators and problem-solvers to explore how technology, AI and digital solutions can address real challenges in rural communities, in this the case Northern Cape.

This is just the beginning. Participants are building the skills, ideas and solutions they need to compete in the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge Hackathon, taking place at Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley on 28–29 August 2026.

Have you registered yet?

If you’re a young innovator, student, developer, data scientist, entrepreneur or tech enthusiast in the Northern Cape, and especially at a , this is your opportunity to HACK. BUILD. PICK YOUR TRACK.

Choose from:
- Mining & Renewable Energy
- Agriculture & Agro-processing
- FinTech
- Transport, Trade & Fisheries

Register at: https://cortexhacks.africa

Enterprise ecosystems don’t build themselves. They’re the product of deliberate alignment between the institutions that ...
25/08/2026

Enterprise ecosystems don’t build themselves. They’re the product of deliberate alignment between the institutions that hold policy, the institutions that hold practice, and the institutions that hold international perspective.

The Cortex Hub brings its full leadership bench to the PSET Entrepreneurship & Alternative Pathways Symposium: Nico Muka, Board Chairperson, Anda Ngcaba, Non Executive Director, and Nobulali Myataza, Managing Director for Enterprise and Supplier Development. Governance, oversight, and ex*****on, in one room, alongside Eastern Cape Socio Economic Consultative Council and the British Council

This is what institutionalising an ecosystem looks like: ECSECC’s provincial coordination, the British Council’s international best practice, and Cortex Hub’s on the ground incubation and enterprise support for PSET and TVET graduates across the Eastern Cape.

Not another dialogue. A system built to last.

Hack Northern Cape! Pick your track. Build your team. Solve a real-world challenge.Whatever your field, there is a track...
25/08/2026

Hack Northern Cape! Pick your track. Build your team. Solve a real-world challenge.

Whatever your field, there is a track for you at the MICT SETA National Skills Challenge – Hackathon, taking place at Sol Plaatje University on 28–29 August 2026.

Teams can compete in:
- Mining & Renewable Energy
- Agriculture & Agro-processing
- FinTech
- Transport, Trade & Fisheries

Apply AI and IoT thinking to real challenges across these sectors and turn your ideas into solutions.

Software developers, data scientists, robotics students, FinTech innovators, engineers and TVET students are encouraged to find their track and build a team around it.

Register by 27 August 2026 at Link in Bio or 👉🏾 https://cortexhacks.africa.

Address

33 Church Street
East London
5200

Opening Hours

Monday 09:00 - 16:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 16:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 16:00
Thursday 09:00 - 16:00
Friday 09:00 - 16:00
Saturday 09:00 - 13:00

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