South African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Report released
The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, launched the 2023 South African Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Indicators Report on 10 August 2023.
The report outlines the state of STI in South Africa in the context of deepening global economic, ecological and social crises.
Commissioned by the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), the report examines investments in research, development and innovation, STI human resources, innovation in manufacturing, digital competitiveness, and the distribution of research and development (R&D) in provinces, among other indicators. The report compares South Africa's performance with various countries, identifying the relative strengths and weaknesses of the national system of innovation (NSI).
It also indicates progress in creating conditions conducive to the translation of innovative R&D into useful technologies with a positive impact on the economy, society and the environment.
Presenting highlights from the study, Dr Mlungisi Cele, NACI CEO, indicated that South Africa's socioeconomic crisis is deepening, with women and youth on the receiving end of high levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
A significant percentage of the population, approximately 20%, qualified as "extremely poor" in 2021. Other types of poverty remained high as well, notably, lower-bound poverty at 29% and upper-bound poverty at 42%.
Climate change, the energy-water-food nexus challenge, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the implications of the post-Covid-19 period are all factors that must be addressed.
"In this light, the 2019 White Paper and 2020 Decadal Plan for STI herald hope and inspire a new sense of optimism," said Dr Cele.
Human resources for STI and investment, NSI investment and funding, knowledge production and utilisation outputs, and innovation and socioeconomic impacts are all considered STI enablers.
The report indicates that there is a demographic imbalance among professors in South African public universities, despite an increase in the percentage of African and female permanent academic staff. In 2020, female professors made up 37,51% of all permanent professors, including associate professors – up from 27,82% in 2011. White female professors are currently the majority, followed by African female professors. However, there is an increasing upward trend in the number of permanent female professors for all races.
In 2010, staff in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields constituted 51,5% of all staff and, by 2021, this percentage was 51,9%.
The proportion of academic staff aged over 60 has been constantly increasing, while the percentage of staff aged between 20 to 29 has decreased significantly from 7,9% in 2011 to 5,8% in 2020, regardless of gender. Although the number of staff aged between 30 to 39 has increased, the growth rate is less than that of staff aged over 60.
Therefore, there is a need to intensify support to young academic staff through instruments such as the New Generation of Academics Programme.
As a result of the Department of Higher Education and Training's implementation of various programmes aimed at developing future generations of academics and building staff capacity, the gender gap among academic staff is gradually closing. The proportions of male and female researchers are approaching parity.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Nzimande emphasised that South African academics, once appointed on a permanent basis, cannot easily be replaced. Because the average academic career lasts about 40 years, universities are frequently compared to enormous tankers that change course slowly and with difficulty.
For the percentage of staff in the STEM fields to increase significantly in relation to non-STEM (social sciences, humanities, education, economic and management sciences) staff, it would require many universities to change their organisational design, creating more medical schools, engineering faculties and larger science faculties.
The envisaged establishment of the new University of Science and Technology in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, is an example of the type of intervention that is required.
"The goal of increasing the numbers of graduates in science, engineering and technology (SET) has been stated and repeated in multiple national policy documents since 1994," said the Minster.
This is reiterated in the 2019 White Paper on STI, which states that the country does not produce sufficient SET skills for the economy, said Minister Nzimande.
Despite various initiatives over the years to increase the output of SET graduates, the percentage of SET graduates as a proportion of all graduates has remained unchanged over the past 12 years.
On STI investments, gross expenditure on research and development as a percentage of GDP (GERD/GDP ratio) decreased from 0,76% in 2017/18 to 0,61% in 2020/21.
Business-sector expenditure on R&D has been on a declining trend over the decade and declined further in 2020/21. The business sector's capacity to attract foreign funding is declining – overall and as a share of foreign funding.
South Africa's scientific publication output has seen a remarkable rise over the past two decades. The number of publications has increased from 3 693 in 2000 to 27 052 in 2021. However, despite this sustained increase in publications, the country's world share seems to have peaked at around 1% over the past five years.
There has been a significant increase in the number of female authors contributing to university publications, rising from 31% in 2005 to nearly 42% in 2021. However, in the field of biotechnology, South Africa's world share of publications peaked in 2019, but experienced a decline in 2020 and 2021.
The report further states that most South African researchers are based in the higher education sector (86,3% in 2020/21) and this trend is ongoing. On the contrary, the business sector's share of total researchers in the country declined from 15,2% in 2011/12 to 7,3% in 2020/21. Science councils have been on a downward spiral that began in 2017/18, with a decrease from 2 189 (3,9%) researchers in 2016/17 to 1 774 (2,9%) researchers in 2020/21.
The Minister highlighted that, considering this downward spiral, stakeholder discussion is urgently needed to find solutions.
In his remarks, NACI Chairperson Mr Tilson Manyoni, stated that report offers an opportunity for NSI actors to pause and reflect on the performance of NSI and the impacts of policies and measures in addressing socioeconomic challenges.
"The NACI council and Secretariat are hopeful that all stakeholders will find the report useful in guiding the future work in promoting innovation across South African society and the economy and work towards meaningful strategies to enhance the performance and impact of the NSI," added Mr Manyoni.
To view the full report, visit the NACI website.
For more information contact:
Thabang Setlhare
Cell: 072 659 9690
E-mail: Thabang.Setlhare@dst.gov.za,
Zama Mthethwa
Cell: 082 808 3956
Email: Zama.Mthethwa@dst.gov.za.
