Program Director; Dr Thomas Auf der Heyde
Dr Albert van Jaarsveld; CEO: NRF
Prof Eugene Cloete; Vice-Rector: Research and Innovation, SU
Prof Lulama Makhubela; Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Post Graduate Studies, Research and Innovation), TUT
Prof Johan Hattingh; Dean: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, SU
Prof Robert Rugimbana; Dean: Economics and Finance, TUT
In 2002, Government released the ‘National Research and Development Strategy’. I quote from page 76: “Individual research grants, whether open or in directed themes, have been shown globally to be limited in creating long-term research capacity, and most developed countries now have strong programmes to establish Centres of Excellence.... The NRF has actively investigated global best practice and is able to create the necessary infrastructure. After three years, the funding required for this programme will be R150 million, starting with R50 million in the first year.”
Although brief and low-key, this business-like passage reveals volumes.
First, it starts with a summary statement regarding relevant research from around the world on the impact of individual research grants. The general finding is that this mode of supporting stronger R&D capabilities has been disappointing.
Second, the document asserts that a preference was emerging in favour of the centre of excellence model, and lets us know that our ever-nimble NRF had by then already sussed out the options to determine what made most sense for South Africa.
And third, the passage implies that a plan existed with at least a three year time horizon.
In a nutshell, this is a treasure of solid policy development followed by efficient implementation.
Where did it start? It started with critical self-reflection, aided by objective research. And what kind of research was this? It was what I have since learned is the relatively young discipline called ‘Scientometrics’. In the absence of these data and analyses, how would we ever know that we weren’t accomplishing as much as we might hope through existing modalities? How would we know that this new Centre of Excellence approach was worth trying, and how would we have any idea how to adapt the approach to South Africa’s needs? And lastly, how would we assess whether these new Centres of Excellence were actually performing to expectation?
The first cohort of Centres of Excellence was launched about two years following the publication of the R&D Strategy. So how well have the Centres performed? An independent review conducted late in 2013 concluded that:
“The Centres of Excellence have done an exceptional job at building national networks of scholars allowing the construction of strong centres of science. This was one of the objectives of creating the Programme and this has been successful. The Centres have also been very successful in developing international linkages”
Over its decade of existence, the value strength of the Centre of Excellence programme has been evident, to the point that this year we are increasing our portfolio of CoEs from 9 to an impressive 14!
The irony is this: while scientometrics played an important role in encouraging government to initiate the Centre of Excellence programme, it is only now that the programme is introducing a Centre of Excellence in scientometrics. A further irony is that this new Centre of Excellence will be expected to provide evidence of the value of its own work and that of the other Centres of Excellence, in informing the development of STI Policy.
The essence of what we will be expecting from this new Centre of Excellence will be to provide objective evidence that will provide the basis for a better understanding of policy questions, and policy choices. The critical interface of this evidence to our Science, Technology and innovation activities will be a most important contribution to meeting the critical policy challenges of the day.
You have your work cut out for you. We know that in 2012/13, the CoEs collectively produced 568 peer-reviewed journal articles, 197 conference publications, and 22 book chapters. Brilliant! But what do these numbers really tell us? What might the publication performance have looked like of all of the member scientists in the absence of these Centres? How do we account for the publishing rate disparities between different disciplines, especially between, say, social sciences versus hard sciences? More importantly, do these numbers convey anything meaningful as to the contribution to knowledge or the ability to confront our socio-economic challenges? We will look to this Centre to provide answers to these and other cr itical questions relating to our Science, Technology and Innovation system.
And of course, as the name of this Centre of Excellence suggests, the Centre’s purpose is not only to measure and analyse scientific research, but to help us translate these findings into practical policy. Our R&D system is evolving at an impressive rate, so are our research and development needs. Thus this Centre of Excellence must build on our existing capacities in scientometrics and innovation policy, foster additional capacity, and take our ability to understand and fine-tune our innovation environment and policy to a new level. In a sense, this new CoE lies right at the heart of the missions of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation. This is really a very exciting moment for our National System of Innovation.
It therefore gives me great pleasure to participate in the launch of the new Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy.
I would like to thank the National Research Foundation for researching, designing and managing the Centre of Excellence programme, and most recently for presiding over the application and adjudication process for the new cohort of CoEs. Yesterday I launched the Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical sciences based at Wits University, and later this month I will launch the Centre of Excellence in Food Security at UWC and the University of Pretoria. We have also announced the Centre for Integrated Mineral and Energy Resource analyses at UJ, and the Centre for Child Development and Livelihoods at UKZN and Wits.
To Professor Mouton, to your CREST team, and to the collaborating institutions, welcome to the prestigious family of Centres of Excellence. Note that this family is prestigious but decidedly non-exclusive, given that a key aspect of your mission is to institutionalise collaborative relationships with the various pockets of excellence in STI measurement and policy around the country, thus ensuring that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. I look forward to the products of the collaboration of this Centre of Excellence with the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation (IERI) at TUT; the Centre for Science Technology and Innovation Indicators (CESTII) at HSRC; the Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET); and others locally and internationally. This will be directly in line with the successful role of existing COEs as captured in the ASSAF review of the Impacts of the Centres of excellence:
An important feature of the CoEs is that they have facilitated interdisciplinary and interinstitutional research and have overcome both the disciplinary and institutional barriers which hinder interdisciplinary collaborative research.”
Professor Mouton, thank you for your leadership, and willingness to take on such a large and important task.
Lastly, I wish to express thanks to Vice Chancellor Professor Botman and to the University of Stellenbosch. This new Centre of Excellence is the fourth that we have entrusted to your care. This is a sign of our faith in your institution, and consolidates your place as a significant player in the national system of innovation.
Thank you.
