between Finland and South Africa (COFISA)
28 September 2006
Ahead of the programme launch ceremony at the Pretoria Sheraton and Towers
on: 28 September 2006 commencing at 19h00
On Thursday, 28 September 2006, the COFISA programme launch ceremony will be
held at the Pretoria Sheraton Hotel and Towers. The ceremony will be addressed
by the South African Minister of Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena, as
well as the Ambassador of Finland, the Honourable Ambassador Heikki
Tuunanen.
The governments of South Africa, through the Department of Science and
Technology (DST), and Finland, through the Embassy of Finland in Pretoria, have
agreed to develop a co-operation framework programme with the overall objective
of:
* strengthening the South African National System of Innovation (SANSI) and
developing provincial innovation systems, focusing on the three provinces of
Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape and contributing to economic growth and
poverty alleviation.
The programme's purpose is to have a national co-ordination mechanism,
linked to a regional network, for the SANSI in place in order to enable the
delivery of support services for science parks and centres of excellence. This
will enhance provincial innovation systems as well as pilot innovation systems
in rural areas.
The proposed programme will focus on capacity development of key
stakeholders and knowledge transfer between the first and second economy in
South Africa. This takes place through activities like training, workshops and
networking among the stakeholders at national and provincial level with
targeted interventions.
This programme will foster collaboration and the exchange of expertise
between South Africa and Finland and provide technical assistance from Finland
to South Africa. It consists of four components:
1. Enhancement of the SANSI at the National Level. This aims at improved
planning and delivery of national SANSI policy and enhanced co-ordination and
collaboration of SANSI stakeholders to stimulate learning about innovation and
improve policy impacts.
2. Province Level Implementation of the SANSI. At a provincial level, the
aim is to strengthen collaboration between key stakeholders: universities,
research institutes, provincial and municipal governments and industry, and to
pilot a well-functioning and sustainable support structure for enabling and
promoting innovation for greater economic growth within the three target
provinces. Further, the programme seeks to enhance collaboration between
national and provincial level stakeholders in the NSI on the understanding that
the provincial systems of innovation are integral components of the SANSI.
3. Piloting Rural Innovation Mechanisms. The objectives of this component
are to pilot rural innovation through training and other support mechanisms
aimed at building human capacity, reducing poverty and enhancing economic
development in rural areas. This approach is based on the application of the
scientific method, and equitable use of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs). This piloting is implemented in the provinces of Gauteng,
Western Cape and Eastern Cape.
4. Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the context of the sub-continent,
the objective is to strengthen South Africa's regional role by sharing the
experiences gained in this programme with other African countries to stimulate
the formation of functional national and regional systems of innovation.
The DST will be the lead agency in charge of the overall implementation and
co-ordination of the programme with assistance provided by the Embassy of
Finland in Pretoria. The collaboration and technical assistance will be
implemented as follows:
* an international Chief Technical Advisor will be provided to co-ordinate
and to report on the Finnish financial contribution of the programme, under the
overall leadership of the programme by a South African National Programme
Director. The International Chief Technical Advisor and the South African
National Programme Director will form the management team of the Programme. The
International Chief Technical Advisor will also participate directly in the
analytical phase of the programme, and in designing and implementing the
specific interventions in SANSI
* a technical assistance package will be established to provide support in
establishing and strengthening the collaboration between provincial and
municipal governments, universities, research institutes and industry to pilot
mechanisms for innovation (e.g. centres of excellence, science parks,
incubators) in Gauteng, the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape. The technical
assistance will include the provision of support to bridge the gap between
research and development outputs, and the commercialisation of products and
services
* an International Junior Professional Officer will be provided to assist
particularly in the provincial interventions together with the international
Chief Technical Advisor, and to learn from ICT-based solutions that are piloted
for rural areas and the disadvantaged population
* there will also be a study visit by South African technical experts to
Finland to gain information and experience concerning the Finnish NSI and
centres of excellence, as well as establishing networks for collaboration.
The programme will run for 30 months under a total programme budget of over
Euro 4 million of which the Finnish contribution will be Euro 3 million.
Enquiries: Kristin Klose
Cell: 082 902 9503
Email: kristin.klose@dst.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
28 September 2006
