Programme director, Ruda Landman
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It’s an honour and a pleasure to be here this morning.
The current affluence of developed countries is largely the outcome of their investment in new knowledge. Innovation and investment in new knowledge have been strong foundations for economic growth and societal change in many countries in Asia and Europe. South Africa has benefited from innovation for several decades, but we still lag behind many successful countries.
New technologies provide huge commercial and economic payoffs, and extend to global commerce and advances in energy, health, transportation, and many other sectors. The current affluence of developed countries is largely the outcome of their investment in new knowledge and the resulting spread of information and communication technologies, both through the use of modern transportation technologies, and virtual movement through the internet and other global communication networks.
The first official innovation survey, covering the period 2002 to 2004 and commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), finds that South Africa is not a ‘technology colony’. The South African innovation survey 2005, commissioned from the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) by the Department of Science and Technology, revealed that the proportion of South African companies engaged in innovative activities compares favourably with the European Union (EU) average. Yet not a lot of innovation is publicly funded. This is not only true of South Africa, but also of most Organisations for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
The report on the survey reads: “Despite governments’ intention of stimulating innovation through funding, it is apparent that public funds do not have much penetration into the activities of innovative enterprises in most countries” (p. xiv).
It’s possible that private companies are not keen to seek public funds because of commercial competition. Yet the private sector does disclose publicly funded research and development. And South Africa does well in international innovation rankings: the 2009 African Competitiveness Report, published by the World Economic Forum, compared us favourably to Brazil and India.
Our HSRC innovation survey shows that South Africa is not a ‘technology colony’. This means that that we do not depend exclusively on foreign technology. “Most innovations are developed by enterprises in South Africa”, the report says, “and the influence of foreign partners is comparable to the experience of other countries.”
And the survey suggests that “current public funding programmes for innovation in South Africa could perhaps be intensified, better publicised and aimed at establishing more trusting relationships between sponsors and performers of innovation activities” (p. xiv).
We can do something about the low level of interest in public funds for innovation. The Department of Science and Technology has made a plan to do so.
South Africa’s five grand challenges build on our strengths. South Africa’s ten-year innovation plan is ambitious. It contains five grand challenges that build on and expand our current research strengths. These areas offer great potential to steer South Africa towards knowledge based economy.
Briefly, these grand challenges are the following.
The first challenge is to tap the potential of our bio-economy for our pharmaceutical industry. We have the world’s third largest biodiversity resource base, and a solid foundation of expertise. We need a systematically managed product value chain to exploit these advantages for the establishment of a globally competitive pharmaceutical industry.
The second challenge is to build on our investment in space science and technology. The establishment of a National Space Agency will assist us to grow and manage, in a coordinated fashion, our satellite industry and a range of innovations in space sciences, earth observation, communications and navigation for socio-economic benefits.
The third challenge is to move towards the use of renewable energy.
Today, every nation is grappling with the issue of energy supply and the possibilities of a green economy. The productive capabilities of emerging economies are dependent on a secure supply of safe, clean, and affordable energy. Working closely with the industry, South Africa is exploring opportunities in clean coal technologies, nuclear energy, renewable energy and hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.
The fourth challenge is to play a leading, regional role in climate change.
South Africa’s geographic position, unique biodiversity and a large base of expertise enables us to play a leading role in climate change science. We are positioned to serve as a unique laboratory, given our proximity to the Antarctic, the Southern Ocean, and the interactions between the Agulhas and Benguela currents. We plan to make a major contribution to understanding climate change, and offer modelled solutions to the world.
The fifth and final grand challenge is termed ‘human and social dynamics’.
This challenge is at the core of nearly every major challenge facing South Africa, from climate change to creating a competitive and innovative workforce. The fifth grand challenge is to increase South Africa’s ability to anticipate the complex consequences of change. It’s the challenge to understand the dynamics of human and social behaviour at all levels better. It’s a challenge to understand the cognitive and social structures that create and define change better. It’s a challenge to help people and organisations manage profound or rapid change better. And, of course, we need social scientists to manage change.
Those are the five challenges. South Africa needs ambitious and inspirational goals to become a competitive new knowledge economy.
You won’t find sectoral excellence without indigenous academic excellence in the same field. We’ve learned from the experience of OECD countries (and their review of our innovation policy) that particular sectors of the economy can be powerful drivers of growth on their own (OECD Reviews of Innovation Policy South Africa: 213 to 214).
The key element has been the emergence of a particular economic sector based on university excellence in the same field. I think of the chemicals industry in Germany before the war, the pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland, the automobile and electrical power equipment industry in Sweden, electronics in Japan, Korea and China, and the information technology industry in California.
South African universities are among the leading one percent of universities in several disciplines; clinical medicine, plant and animal science, social sciences, environment ecology, geosciences, and bio-chemistry. The point I’m making is that you won’t find sectoral excellence without indigenous academic excellence in the same field. And this is why we are committed to maintaining research excellence in our leading disciplines in our research intensive universities.
The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) leads us into new territory.
South Africa has many areas of geographical and technological advantage. We now need to work strategically to ensure that some of the investments we have already made through the innovation fund are continued and improved under TIA. It’s now vital that existing innovation instruments are redesigned to create a structured innovation chain to address the innovation chasm. This includes improving access to finance and an innovation friendly regulatory environment, and strengthening our institutional arrangements.
To address the fragmentation of funding instruments, this ten-year innovation plan introduced the establishment of a TIA. The agency has now been established and it incorporates the Innovation Fund and the Biotechnology Regional Innovation Centres. TIA will help establish a network of competence centres focused on market opportunities in partnership with industry and public research institutions. This plan also stresses the need to establish an intellectual property management office to enhance the protection of intellectual property. We’re going to see a lot of change and the re-engineering of our system in the next year or so to drive the structured innovation agenda.
In conclusion, let me remind you that some of the greatest global companies were born in recessions; the International Business machines (IBM) personal computer in the early 1980s recession, for example. And it was in the early 2000s that Apple and Google began to challenge the dominance of Microsoft. Of course, companies manage for survival and cut research budgets because it is easy to do. And this is why government spending in research and development can at a time like this provide the private sector with better support than ever before.
Growing numbers of companies are becoming aware of the savings that they can make through the research and Development Tax Incentive programme and we have started seeing signs of its effectiveness in promoting increased research and development investment in the private sector.
I’m certain that all of us who are intimately involved in innovation will find that the next few years are exciting ones in our history. We hope that you will all play a significant part in our quest for both economic growth and the improvement of the quality of the lives of our citizens.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
18 August 2009
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za/)
