Speech by the South African Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor MP, at the CERN "60 years of peace and development" celebration, United Nations, New York
H.E. Mr. Sam Kahamba Kutesa, President of the General Assembly,
H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General,
Former Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan,
Director-General of CERN,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It's a great honour to be here today. CERN stands for peaceful scientific research and collaboration. The sixtieth anniversary of CERN is a remarkable event to mark and celebrate.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has illustrated the urgent need to accelerate focused investment in research on the continent. Science has been a significant contributor to social development in many parts of the world. Intractable childhood diseases such as polio and smallpox have been almost eradicated as a result of 20th century drugs and vaccine development. Advances in the response to challenging diseases have led to greater contact and collaboration among nations.
Drugs development has created large multinational corporations that manufacture innovate and provide costly drugs worldwide. African countries are major consumers of the products of advanced scientific discovery. It thus seems logical to propose that focused well designed investment in science and innovation could offer Africa new opportunities for development in a range of sectors.
There are many examples that illustrate the important role science can and should play in promoting peace and development. Science collaboration can lead to increased opportunities for human resource development at post graduate levels. South Africa has benefited from such links with the CERN research collaboration.
In the area of climate change research Southern Africa countries have come together to share expertise, institutions and technology to create a regional centre of excellence in climate change research –thus rather than duplicating institutions, financial resources and research themes, the countries have decided to form a consortium that will partner in seeking science based responses to climate change effects.
A further area of partnership has been in the expansion of access to information communication technologies –the mobile phone has revolutionised communication trade and innovation in Africa. Use of this technology has been significant in leading to new business formation, youth development and creative use of these opportunities in education. South Africa and seven other African countries have been major beneficiaries of the ‘Perimeter’ Institute, a Canada based institute that has supported the creation of mathematical institutes for post graduate study in eight African countries. Each institute is international in character receiving students from all over the world and drawing young graduates together through academic collaboration.
We pursue science collaboration because we realise that no country can grow and survive in isolation. The international nature of cooperation and innovation in science and technology is central to enhancing a country’s competitiveness, its economic development, its human capital and its technology transfer.
One of the more recent examples of science drawing nations together is the Square Kilometre Array project or SKA. The project is to be implemented primarily by South Africa and Australia and a global partnership of scientists and governments from nineteen countries. The SKA will be a three thousand dish / antennae radio telescope –the first ever global scientific infrastructure to be built on the African continent. The project reflects the theme we are discussing due to a number of salient features. The project will contribute to a greater understanding of the universe. It involves nine African partner countries and has led to a renewed focus on research and innovation on the continent.
Due to a scholarship programme, the research capacity of more than eleven African countries has been strongly enhanced. The graduate programme has committed to international partnerships and hosts a global workshop of young scientists each year, bringing together graduates from Germany, USA, China, Japan, UK and all eleven African partners. In addition to the graduate programme, SKA has also led to research infrastructure for astronomy sciences being established in countries that have not had such infrastructure before. Radio observatory facilities are being built by engineers and technologists in the partner countries.
A world-class research infrastructure is one of the pillars for building competitive knowledge-based activities. A world-class research infrastructure attracts the best human capital resources. Sharing infrastructure means sharing resources and skills, which in turn facilitates research on, for example aspects of climate change, and changes occurring in our oceans, to our natural resources and the atmosphere. This is the kind of research that individual countries would not be able to undertake in isolation.
For the first time in four decades we are experiencing a brain gain in Africa as a result of the SKA project. It is imperative for Africa’s scientists to work in Africa if they are to support development on the continent, if they are to play a role in smooth technology transfer and if they are to drive innovation. A global project such as the SKA is giving effect to all these objectives.
Sub-Saharan Africa contributes about 2.3 per cent of world gross domestic product but is responsible for only 0.4 per cent of global expenditure in research and development (R&D). With 13.4 per cent of the world’s population, it is home to only 1.1 per cent of the world’s scientific researchers.
Earlier speakers have referred to the significant contribution CERN has made to increasing world knowledge and new areas of science research. We are pleased that several African countries have scientists who have participated in the LHC research initiatives and we congratulate the leadership of CERN who have been true world scientists seeking to attract scholars from the global community to the LHC.
It is our aspiration that a facility of this kind with immense value for humanity should also be created in developing countries in order to ensure that all the intellectual energies of our societies are directed toward using science effectively for the promotion of peace and development.
