The Programme Director
MEC Ismail Vadi, Department of Roads and Transport, Gauteng Provincial Government
Mr Ismail Mapara, Managing Director for 3M South Africa
Gunter Halfar, Technical Manager, 3M South Africa
3M Customers
Members of the media
Distinguished guests
Just weeks after my appointment as Minister of Science and Technology – in October last year – I had the pleasure of attending the event announcing South Africa's Young Innovator of the Year in the Innovation Challenge competition, here at the 3M offices. Today I am back to launch the Customer Innovation Centre. It is really gratifying to see that last year's celebration of innovation was not a once off event and that the culture of innovation is fully embedded in 3M's thinking.
There are many synergies between the way 3M functions as an organisation and South Africa's innovation strategies.
For one thing, 3M's motto is "Inventing tomorrow". In many respects, this is what South Africa's National Development Plan is about. It focuses on the developmental imperatives of the next twenty years, using amongst other instruments, science, technology and innovation as the vehicles for achieving higher economic growth rates and, thereby, improving the lives of all South Africans.
What 3M's approach to doing business gives us, in the context of the National Development Plan, is a commercial example of the holistic approach needed to achieve the sustainability of our nation.
The value of science and technology in advancing the general welfare of society is immense. Without science, we are less able, and possibly unable, to respond effectively to our many challenges. Science implies the acquisition of new knowledge and the discovery of new solutions to existing problems. This is why science and innovation fuel our hopes for an end to the scourge of HIV and AIDS, for ways of getting basic services such as water and sanitation to our citizens, fighting poverty, improving energy security and – perhaps the biggest single challenge facing humanity today – addressing climate change.
Some people say entrepreneurs are born; some say they are made. Personally, I think Plato said it well when he said "necessity is the mother of invention". 21-year-old Sizwe Nzima, from Khayelitsha, will attest to this. He is the co-founder of Iyeza Express, a small company that delivers chronic medicines by bike to patients who are unable to stand in long queues at clinic pharmacies. He started off with two clients – his grandparents – but now has more than 250 clients in and around Khayelitsha. Sizwe, epitomises the way that an innovator seeks better ways to resolve immediate problems and this year Sizwe was listed in Forbes Magazine's 30 under-30 Africa's best young entrepreneurs list.
We can only imagine how technology could further revolutionise Nzima's business.
I am reminded of the story of one of 3M's first R&D initiatives. In order to make sandpaper in the early years of the last century, the company founders imported garnets from Spain to America. When users complained that the garnet abrasive surface was falling off, 3M discovered that the stones had travelled across the Atlantic Ocean packed near olive oil, which had penetrated the stones' containers. Too short on finance to afford a replacement shipment of stones, the company dried the stones over a fire.
For 3M, at that time, necessity was indeed the mother of invention. But more importantly, the culture of "making a plan" is now a core component of its success.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, only 6,8% of South Africans aged between 18 and 24 are involved in any entrepreneurial activity. The most active group is that between 35 and 44 years which contributes 32% of overall entrepreneurial activity. The report further says that the biggest challenge facing the entrepreneurs is not lack of funding, but lack of information, skills and mentorship opportunities.
The Department of Science and Technology established the Technology Innovation Agency four years ago and made resources available to enable TIA to stimulate an environment which will support technologically inclined entrepreneurs to develop and commercialise competitive technology-based services and products.
My challenge to the 3M CEO and executives today, is to create an environment for learning and mentorship for young up-and-coming businesses through this Customer Innovation Centre. Applying science and technology in new, smarter ways will not only enable us as South Africans to create a sustainable economy, but also position us to meet the social and environmental needs of our people.
The synergies between the philosophy and strategies of 3M as shown in this Customer Innovation Centre, and the work of the Department of Science and Technology are worth exploring further.
In promoting a culture of innovation in our country, the department endorses a number of "innovation scouting" initiatives, such as the Technology Top 100 and the Innovation Index, both driven by the Da Vinci Institute. In addition, at school level, we support the Eskom Expo Awards, Maths Olympiads, Technology Olympiads and Science Olympiads. I am confident that learners who get nurtured through these platforms are our future stars. This is directly in line with 3M's intention of using the Customer Innovation Centre to "inspire young minds to think big and pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, engineering, and science". Together we can certainly do more to advance our mutual and national objectives to prepare and induct more students into the National Innovation System.
Notwithstanding our country's challenges in respect of attracting learners in numbers to science-related careers, the calibre of South African scientists is excellent; they are doing world-class research and are world-renowned in their own right. Winning the bid to host the greater part of the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope is clear testimony to the capabilities of our scientists and engineers, and the rapid advances our country has made in astronomical science and technology. To capitalise on this strength, the transfer of skills and knowledge has been built into this project. Between 2005 and 2012, SKA South Africa awarded more than 492 scholarships and bursaries to students, including many from other African countries.
For my department, our core business is supporting all funding research & development and making resources available to make the culture of innovation ubiquitous and affordable. We are trying to make it a "South African habit".
It seems to me that every single South African organisation should be looking for a better way of doing things, because – until we have eradicated poverty; everyone has access to affordable health care; everyone has adequate shelter, sufficient food and access and clean water – we cannot afford not to do things better.
There is no doubt that we still have a long way to go, but with everyone contributing, we will do it. Become an innovator by taking the initiative; everyone can do something to move things forward. Remember the shampoo manufacturer who doubled sales of his product by simply adding the word "repeat" to the hair washing instructions on the bottle? Science created the shampoo. Technology produced the shampoo. But it was innovation that doubled the profits.
Science and technology can be learned. Innovation is a state of mind. I believe, it should also be the state of the nation – a nation that innovates, an nation of winners
Thank you.
