Vice chancellor
Quantum staff
Guests
It gives me great pleasure to be here this evening to share in your success in linking quantum research and technology with your local municipality. I visited the Centre for Quantum technology last month and Professor Francesco Petruccione and his team took me on a tour of its laboratories.
As we emerge from economic recession, government, industry and universities need to find better ways of sharing skills and enhancing resources in science, technology and innovation.
Our future growth depends on it.
To support the long-term development of a strong and sustainable economy, my department has put in place a number of crucial programmes and initiatives that will support the development of a number of significant long-term research and development (R&D) and innovation-led industrial development opportunities. These initiatives will ensure that we grow and diversify our economy into one that is more knowledge-intensive and which contributes to the creation of larger numbers of decent jobs.
These initiatives, complemented by the recent establishment of the Technology Innovation Agency, will play a significant role in creating new business enterprises and decent jobs in the long-term. In this situation that we find ourselves, we need to use the strengths and experience that exist within the private sector, our research institutions and universities, and in our international networks to position South Africa among the leading innovative nations.
My department works with the National Treasury and the South African Revenue Services (SARS) to administer the enhanced research and development tax incentives that was introduced in 2007 to encourage higher levels of scientific and technological research and development in the private sector. This programme is gaining momentum, and beginning to attract even more small and medium enterprises across a wide range of sectors.
High-level skills are a significant constraint on the development of a knowledge-intensive economy. We continue to increase our investment in human capital development and produce a greater number of skilled individuals, in particular to increase the number of, and improve the equity profile of honours, masters, doctoral and post-doctoral graduates.
However, the value of honours, masters, doctoral and post-doctoral bursaries has been significantly eroded by inflation. At present the National Research Foundation (NRF) (the DST’s implementing agency) only funds about three out of 10 qualifying students who apply for postgraduate support.
As many of these students are first-generation students supported by extended families, they are under severe pressure to earn as much as possible and as soon as possible. Consequently they forego their personal ambitions. This is further exacerbated by the huge skills shortage that exists in the country and the high market related salaries when compared to the offered bursary values.
In response, my department has allocated a further R52,7 million in the 2010 academic year to improve the values of grant holder linked and free standing bursaries. Such investment will assist in improving the retention of students within the system as well as recruit new entrants, particularly from those who are first generation university entrants; and in so doing, complement government’s investment in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
Similarly, we need to continue to invest in academic and research staff, and improve the research infrastructure to enhance the capacity of the research, development and innovation system.
In this regard, we have continued to strengthen one of our key instruments, the South African Research Chairs Initiative. The objectives of the initiative are multi-faceted but include the need to retain and/or attract qualified research scientists to our universities, to increase research outputs, focus and capacity and to improve and accelerate the training of highly qualified personnel through research.
There are now 82 SARCHi professors, half of whom are black and half of whom are female. They currently supervise 367 students, and published 323 articles last year.
The private sector has also been supportive of this initiative. The First Rand Foundation has committed R9 million per year, for five years, to support six research chairs.
Our private sector should be complemented for their commitment to developing the skills base for the country. Government needs to work with universities to develop innovative financing initiatives to improve this support.
I look forward to hearing more about the Centre for Quantum Technology in the near future and I look forward to hearing about many more university-industry linkages whether in the form of spin-off companies or in the form of contract research.
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
21 May 2010
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za)
