M Mangena: National Society of Black Engineers Conference

27 September 2007

Programme Director
Director of the National Society of Black Engineers
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Currently, we are not producing enough engineers to meet our national demand
in this sector. Recently released statistics on scarce skills quotas reveal
that the country needs 1 000 civil engineers with five years relevant
experience. Compare this with our production output of 238 civil engineers
graduates in 2002 that would by now be having the five years experience
required to put us on a sustainable developmental trajectory.

Over the next two decades, South Africa is obliged to meet the demand for
appropriate engineering competencies. We see the National Society of Black
Engineers as one of the vehicles for assisting the National System of
Innovation in meeting this challenge. That is why this meeting of the minds
organised by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is so important. We
hope this is the first of many such conferences that will be addressing the
question of increasing the number of black engineers within the education and
innovation systems, and boosting their participation in the mainstream
economy.

By building its intellectual and skilled resources in engineering, South
Africa will be developing its innovation capacity, and establishing sustainable
competitive engineering-related sectors. This is a necessary condition for
meeting the demands of our ambitious growth and development targets. As a
department whose mandate is to promote and develop the national research,
innovation and development agenda, my department is therefore positioning
itself to play a proactive role towards the realisation of this objective.

In responding to the challenge of building the Sector Education and Training
human capital, we have introduced a number of initiatives to improve the
quantity and quality of the required workforce. Leading the pack amongst these
initiatives is the South African Research Chairs Initiative, which aims to
attract the best available high level research and scientific talent into the
country.

We have also prioritised the appointment of some Research Chairs in
Engineering based disciplines. To this end, we have established an Innovation
Honours programme, which specifically targets and funds, amongst others, final
year undergraduate engineering students at higher education institutions. The
objective is to build a pool of engineering students who can proceed to Masters
and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) studies under the guidance and supervision of
our Research Chairs.

Other initiatives within our broad-based strategy of building engineering
capabilities in essential engineering-related economic sectors include,
firstly, the National Tooling Initiative. Through this programme, we have
established three Institutes for Advanced Tooling (IATs), which are based at
the Soshanguve campus of the Tshwane University of Technology, Stellenbosch
University and the Walter Sisulu University in East London. The main objectives
of these institutes are to:
* increase the competitiveness of the South African Tooling industry by
stimulating value-added contributions to the process chain
* create advanced skills in tool design and tool manufacture.

The IATs, therefore, aim to change tool manufacturing from a resource-driven
to a knowledge-driven process through innovation and assimilation of
state-of-the-art tool making technologies. Through these Institutes, we have
created opportunities for black engineers to acquire the relevant technology
and skills and receive the support they need to enter into this high-technology
industry, especially as entrepreneurs.

As a precursor to the establishment of the IATs, the department established
a co-operation programme with the Indo-German Tool Rooms in India for training
our graduate mechanical engineers in advanced tool design and manufacture. Over
a period of two years, 29 black engineers, including three females,
successfully completed the one-year intensive postgraduate programme. Many of
these engineers now work at the IATs; others are employed in industry and in
special tool making skills-development programmes at Further Education and
Training colleges, such as the Tooling Centre of Excellence being established
at FET Coastal here in Durban. Efforts are currently underway to extend this
cooperation with India to train further groups of graduate engineers, in
cooperation with Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Education and
Training Authority (MERSETA).

Secondly, the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS) was
established with the aim of developing competencies in key technologies to
strengthen the technological base of the South African manufacturing sector.
Projects on Micro-Machining, High-Performance Machining of Light Metals, and
Biodegradable Composites for the Aerospace Industry are some of the many
projects within the AMTS which have high industrial engineering components.
Many black engineers have been recruited into these projects by the
participating companies and institutions such as Stellenbosch University, Cape
Peninsula University of Technology, Central University of Technology, Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), AeroSud, etc. Some of these
projects have international partners such as the Airbus in France and
Fraunhofer in Germany, creating exciting opportunities for our young engineers
to get exposure to these innovative engineering environments.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are but some of the areas in which the NSBE can
work together with my department in streamlining and optimising opportunities
for black engineers to develop their high-end engineering skills and
competencies.

Apart from the establishment of the above mentioned platforms, the
department is also planning a number of engineering-related initiatives which
will provide major opportunities for black engineers and entrepreneurs.

Together with the Department of Public Enterprises and the Department of
Trade and Industry, we are involved in the development of the Competitive
Supplier Development Programme (CSDP) for the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs),
Eskom, Transnet and the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR).

This entails developing government support packages for suppliers, as a part
of the sustainable competitive localisation of manufacturing-related
procurement of the SOEs over the next 15 years and beyond. The mandate of my
department is to provide technology development, technology transfer and
high-end skills development interventions to potential suppliers and supplier
networks. These interventions are largely manufacturing-based, and the demand
for engineering expertise will grow substantially as a result.

As part of the Central Securities Depository Participant (CSDP), the
Department of Science and Technology is also involved in the establishment of
the National Nuclear Manufacturing Centre (NNMC) at Nuclear Energy Corporation
of South Africa (NECSA) to support our ambitious strategies regarding nuclear
power generation. In particular, this will assist our nuclear manufacturing
industry to attain the required technological capabilities to reap potential
economic opportunities resulting from the multi-billion rand procurement of
goods and services.

The NNMC has two areas of focus, namely, Workforce Development and
Technology Assimilation, which is the uptake of Advanced Manufacturing
Technologies by industry, and the establishment of standards systems within the
Nuclear Quality Assurance framework.

These focus areas will develop South Africa's industrial capability for the
fabrication of nuclear certified equipment, including pressure vessels, heat
exchangers and fuel storage vessels. The NNMC will create opportunities for
black engineers to enter the supply chain of the nuclear manufacturing
industries. There are potentially huge opportunities, over the next 20 years,
through the rollout of nuclear power plants in South Africa.

The Competitive Supplier Development Programme provides another opportunity
for the NSBE to work together with my department in defining those areas of
critical skills, and with the State-Owned Enterprises for developing programmes
that could increase the capabilities of graduates in those areas.

Finally, black people constitute a large majority in the country. This makes
black engineers a critical factor in building the necessary engineering
capacity required now and in the future. Therefore, we need to expend our
efforts and all possible resources to pursue this goal.

Ladies and gentleman, in view of the array of economic opportunities
available for engineering enterprises, the theme of this conference: 'Our Time,
Our Challenge', is indeed appropriate.

We sincerely hope that you, acting as organisations, networks and companies,
can rise to the challenge of creating and developing opportunities for
leadership, technical excellence and economic participation for black
engineers. In so doing, you will be contributing towards the development of an
equitable socio-economic paradigm for South Africa.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
27 September 2007
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za)