Address by the South Africa Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation on the occasion of the BioAfrica Convention 2023 held at the Durban ICC
Dr Nhlanhla Msomi, AfricaBio Chairman of the Board,
Dr Biotumelo Semete- Makokotlela, Chairperson of the BIOAfrica Organizing Committee, and CEO: South African Health Products Regulatory Authority;
Dr Phil Mjwara, Director General of the Department of Science and Innovation;
Dr. Sanjay Singh, CEO of Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd, India;
Delegates and participants from across Africa, and indeed the world;
Expert speakers, innovators, entrepreneurs, industry captains, academics and traditional knowledge holders;
Members of the media;
Good morning
Welcome to the BIOAfrica 2023!
This forum provides an opportunity for Africa to talk about its aspirations, opportunities, and vision for a continental bio-economy.
It is an opportunity for Africa to grasp the opportunity of biotechnology, an opportunity that continues to grow and expand, and indeed showing no signs of plateauing.
New technologies are innovations that are constantly developing, and the need for biotechnologies and biotechnology products is only growing as we enter the realm of climate change, fossil fuel replacement, sustainable development and healthcare.
Please allow me to share some of the key issues that South Africa is grappling with as an instructive insight into bio-innovation for the continent.
My Department of Science and Innovation has been championing biotechnology, and the bio-economy in South Africa since 2001. We now are doing it with vigour through our implementation of our Decadal Plan, our ten year plan for the implementation of our 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).
In order to drive the development of our National System of Innovation (NSI), we have undertaken a range of initiatives, instruments, technology platforms, research & innovation programmes, networks, linkages, finance packages and incentives.
As per the Bio-Economy Strategy of 2013, our role as a Department of Science and Innovation is threefold, namely, (1) building strategic innovation competencies, (2) Implementing strategic innovation programmes and (3), promoting awareness, teamwork and cooperation/collaboration amongst all stakeholders towards our national objectives.
In all these programmes, we have made significant progress which is yet to be published by our National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI).
Ladies and gentlemen
The South African Bioeconomy– at a conservative estimate - forms approximately 8.3 percent of the economy, and employs roughly 1.5 million people, ranging from unskilled through to highly skilled labour.
This is amongst the many reasons that this installation of the BIOAfrica is hosted here in South Africa.
Our presence is mainly in the Health Innovation, Agriculture Innovation, Industrial Biotech and the Indegenous Knowledge Based Technology Innovation, which I will like to talk about them briefly.
Health Innovation
Our Health research, development, innovation and manufacturing interventions championed by our Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) are focused on harnessing our strengths and the opportunities through building strategic partnerships across government, academia and industry.
These interventions support the Bio-Economy Strategy's objective to strengthen the country's local research, development, innovation and manufacturing capabilities with regards to drugs, vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical devices that address the disease burden within South and Southern Africa.
Given the scale of SA’s health challenges, and the complexity of the health value chain, no single institution, intervention or approach will be adequate to address the challenges effectively.
Thus, the achievement of the envisaged health outcomes of the country will require both technological and non-technological innovations.
In respect of non-technological interventions, a balanced body of social sciences knowledge will need to underpin complex trans-disciplinary approaches to healthcare challenges. In this regard, a human-centred approach will particularly be important in addressing the mental health challenges facing South Africans.
In respect of technology-based interventions, various advances in genetics, precision medicine, data science, nanotechnology and synthetic biology, for example, coupled with the convergence of biological, physical and digital spaces, will give rise to new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities that offer the possibility of curing disease, reducing suffering, lengthening lives and enhancing patient experience.
These new and disruptive technologies can be harnessed to optimise health systems, improve the quality of healthcare and increase the digitisation of healthcare systems.
STI in support of health innovation
Covid-19 demonstrated that South Africa (like the rest of the world) can no longer depend on a single health system intervention, especially where pandemic preparedness is central.
Endowed with unique megadiversity and rich indigenous knowledge (IK) related to medicinal plants, South Africa is well positioned to develop a sustainable and complementary IK-based health system.
In line with its inclusivity principle, our Decadal Plan embraces two STI health systems, prioritising both a contemporary 4IR precision and digital approach, and IK-rooted health innovation responses.
Contemporary 4IR precision and digital health innovation approach
Innovative approaches brought about by the convergence of various technological disciplines (such as nano and biotechnologies, information technology, and cognitive and social sciences) are changing the face of health sectors.
The associated benefits include cost-effective healthcare systems, new delivery systems, improved diagnostics and disease management, enhanced remote disease monitoring and improved patient experience.
In the production of health-related products and services, innovations that are underscored by technology convergence could be harnessed in various technical disciplines to improve manufacturing and related services.
As a result, over the years, our National System of Innovation (NSI) has developed strong STI capabilities across the health value chain, including:
the Strategic Health Innovation Partnerships initiative, which supports different research, development and innovation health priorities;
technology platforms that underpin health systems applications, technologies or processes developed for the end-user; and technology innovation clusters that bring together players from research, government and industry across the value chain to drive and support health innovation.
Thus, in the next decade, the approach is to maintain existing innovation support instruments and programmes while strengthening capabilities and interventions in converging technologies, building new capabilities in the emerging health new technologies priorities to accelerate scientific discovery for new treatment and diagnostics, strengthening precision medicine outputs, and digitalising health and healthcare systems.
Agricultural Innovation
Ladies and gentlemen, now let me turn to Agriculture.
Our new Decadal plan prioritises the revitalisation of traditional sectors of the economy such as Agriculture.
The Decadal Plan provides a strong theory of change for “innovation driving revitalization of agriculture” through deployment of bio-innovation products, processes and technological services to support a competitive, thriving and productive and modern agricultural sector.
It positions research, development and innovation (RDI) as a driver of growth in the agricultural sector to support:
- The development of technologies and innovative solutions that not only increase productivity and competitiveness but also provide sustainable service delivery solutions
- Create an inclusive economy and transfer technologies and knowledge to the poor and the informal economy
- Enhance high-end capabilities of institutions to develop innovations for inclusive development
- Reduce household food insecurity and increase sustainability.
All these are also aligned with the Agriculture and Agroprocessing Masterplan (AAMP) led by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), as well as DSI’s input to the economic recovery plans in the wake of the devastating impact of Covid-19.
Section 2.1.1(e) of the Agriculture and Agroprocessing Masterplan (AAMP) highlights the important role that the decadal plan can play in driving competitiveness, productivity and economic recovery in agriculture through research development and innovation.
The agricultural innovation theory of change proposes several multi- disciplinary and multi-institutional STI interventions along the agricultural value chain that are aimed at:
- Agricultural intensification and new knowledge products.
- Technology transfer and adoption.
- Nutrition security and livelihoods.
- Enabling mechanisms such as skills development and training.
Agriculture innovation value chain mapping
Our agricultural pillar of the Bio-economy Strategy recognises the need to invest in value chain analysis initiatives for various crops (including sorghum) to support food security and growth and development of the agriculture sector through import substitution and other measures.
The key principles of our Agricultural Bio-economy Innovation Partnership Programme (ABIPP), which is our instrument for the implementation of the Agricultural Bio-economy, are coordination, partnerships, co-funding, a value chain approach and inclusivity.
Through ABIPP. we have strengthened agricultural biosciences innovation to ensure food security, enhance nutrition and improve health, as well as enable job creation through the expansion and intensification of sustainable agricultural production and processing.
This instrument is managed by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) to implement the agriculture goals of the national Bio-economy Strategy.
ABIPP funds, co-funds, coordinates, facilitates and actively manages multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research programmes focusing on agricultural bio-innovation, products, processes and services that contribute to increased productivity, food security and sustainable rural development.
We have been implementing the ABIPP programme for six years now, through the Technology Innovation Agency.
Since the beginning of this current financial year - 2022/23, our priorities through the ABIPP has been to drive the modernisation of agriculture by implementing crop improvement programmes to increase productivity, reduce imports and ensure sustainability in the domestic supply value chain.
We focused on breeding, climate change resilience, crop protection, farmer development support, and value chain analyses/or development.
We targeted new cultivars with higher yields, nutrition, nitrogen efficiency, drought and heat tolerance, and disease and pest resistance in commodities.
I am delighted to indicate that in these years (2022/23), a total of eight intellectual property rights for wheat were filed, which is amongst a group of crops that we targeted.
Other crops targeted includes maize, soybean, eucalyptus, pine, wattle, cotton, potatoes, sweet potatoes and cassava, sorghum, oilseeds (soybean, canola, sunflower), dryland rice, and nuts (Bambara groundnut and macadamia), horticultural crops, industrial crops (such as hemp and other fibre crops) beans, legumes, pulses and other indigenous crops with high nutritional value.
One of our targeted areas is animal improvement. In this regard, we focus on increasing productivity, reducing imports, increasing exports and ensure competitiveness and sustainability in domestic supply.
All these where funded my the DSI agency – the Technology and Innovation Agency.
As far as agroprocessing and value addition, we regard it as a key driver for innovation in support of food and nutrition security.
We therefore have positioned our agro-innovation hubs as one of the instruments to deliver on food, nutrition and farmer development programmes, as well as to reduce the long-term effects of COVID-19.
We are also ensuring the development of a skilled workforce, which is a critical component of modernising agriculture in South Africa, while contributing towards transformation and redress.
In 2022/23 Financial Year, the ABIPP supported 19 Masters and PhD students as well as the training and absorption of 5 black technicians – including eight (8) black interns and three (3) postdocs.
The National Biosecurity Hub
Together with my colleagues, the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, we launched the National Biosecurity Hub, to deal with national phytosanitary measures and to meet the requirements of international trade.
Oversight of the Hub is through a National Biosecurity Hub Steering Committee consisting of representatives of my Department of Science and Innovation, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Innovation Africa and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC).
The launch was underpinned by strong government industry partnerships such as the Strategic innovation Partnership for Grains and Oilseeds where very early investments in the Plant Health Consortium has paved the way for the development of the National Biosecurity Hub.
Industrial Biotech
Ladies and gentlemen
Central to the agenda of sustainable bioeconomy development, is the concept of an integrated biorefinery.
Similar to a petroleum refinery, the integrated biorefinery concept uses different biomass feedstocks as a raw material for the production of a spectrum of bio-based products.
As a result, our integrated biorefinery implementation model targets the full value of the biomass feedstocks, by designing and engineering the facility to rescue the higher value products before the process for getting maximum yield of the lower value products.
From our point of view, we envisage that the adoption of an integrated bio-refineries strategy will facilitate our country’s transition from a fossil resource-based industry towards utilisation of sustainable and renewable resources. Such a strategy provides the opportunity for economic growth and job creation across a value chain spanning primary production and value-added processing in an environmentally responsible manner.
As part of the DSI’s industrial bio-economy implementation plan, we have identified the following vertical biorefinery technology flagship programmes for implementation:
- Forestry bio-refinery.
- Sugar bio-refinery.
- Waste (green) bio-refinery.
- Algal bio-refinery.
Recognizing the need for the country to transit from fossil-based industry (as a major supplier of commodity products) to bio-based commodities (through the integrated Biorefinery approaches), the DSI is driving several initiatives aimed at developing a sustainable bio-based economy implementation in South Africa.
These includes the Bio-energy Atlas - a decision-making tool that guides biomass availability in the country; the Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF), which we are implementing with our entity the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to enhance industry competitiveness. The establishment of the BIDF cost around R37.5 million.
We also established the Biorefinery Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Consortium which was aimed at developing cutting-edge RDI bio-refinery technologies across the biomass value chains as well as building and strengthening human capital development (HCD) to produce a cohort of skilled researchers and engineers required to support bio-refinery capabilities in the country.
Furthermore, the DSI has been supporting several other biomass-based RDI interventions including the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) Algal platform, Sugarcane Technology Enabling Programme for Bioenergy (STEP-Bio) etc.
In November 2020, Cabinet approved the Sugarcane Sector Masterplan, which forms part of the Re-invigorated Industrial Strategy (RIS) for South Africa (SA) as approved by the Government in June 2019.
The objectives of this sector Masterplan are to increase investment, jobs and competitiveness, underpinned by greater inclusivity in the Sugarcane Sector.
This masterplan supports our Public Private Growth Initiative (PPGI).
My Department of Science and Innnovation (DSI) invested about R7 million in the Market Intelligence-Gathering study to provide relevant information that will enable the local sugarcane industry to position themselves to capitalise on such new opportunities in the local and international markets.
In 2021, we approved the establishment of the Forestry Bioeconomy Innovation Cluster to be managed by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA).
The proposed Cluster integrates the University of Pretoria (UP)’s Forest Molecular Genetics Research Programme with the downstream biorefining and SMME support activities of CSIR-BID to strengthen the value chain and increase productivity and competitiveness of the forestry sector.
In furthering our support of the forestry sector, my Department together with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) and the Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS), commissioned the development of the Forestry Innovation Strategy for South Africa.
The Strategy aims to set a direction on the development Bio-refining innovation capabilities to support the productivity and competitiveness of the forestry sector.
Indigenous Knowledge-Based Technology Innovation
Ladies and gentlemen
The role of Africa’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems cannot be understated. The DSI’s Indigenous Knowledge-Based Technology Innovation Directorate has been expanding its work for multi-country collaboration with the BRICS countries including Ethiopia, Canada, Jamaica, amongst others.
As a Department we speared-headed the establishment of the BRICS Research and Innovation Institute in Natural Medicines to be hosted by South Africa.
This institute will focus on full innovation value-chains for world class development of safe, quality and efficacious natural medicines for clinical application.
Our Department is also supporting the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority’s (SAHPRA) Working Committee to review the South Africa’s Medicines Regulations for the inclusion of proprietary African natural medicines in the Essential Medicines List.
I am delighted to indicate that South African scientists from the University of Free State and KwaZulu Natal and senior DSI officials participate as advisors to the World Health Organization – African Regional Office (WHO-AFRO).
In 2022, the WHO visited some of DSI facilities and entities, and recommended that South Africa provides leadership as a WHO partner in research, innovation, manufacturing and commercialisation of African natural medicines.
Our Department leads the research, development and innovation pillar of the Cannabis and Hemp Industrialisation Masterplan. We are currently supporting studies on medical benefits of cannabis in cancer, diabetes, hypertension, long-covid and neurodegenerative diseases.
The IK-Based Technology Innovation Directorate has been leading the organization of Cannabis Symposium inside the BIO-Africa Convention since 2019.
The DSI in collaboration with the Gauteng Department of Agriculture; and the Department of Small Business Development supports the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in product development initiatives for 23 SMMEs, some of which will be exhibiting their products developed at the BIO-Africa Convention.
Conclusion
In conclusion – and from the South African example – driving Bio-innovation is a lengthy, a highly complex, and incredibly difficult enterprise.
It has to combine the strategic interests of both the public and private sectors. It needs to service the evolving needs of three market sectors (health, agriculture, and manufacturing), while coping with the rapidly changing technological landscape, the highly regulated product environment, and the urgent needs of job-seekers and entrepreneurs.
Having said that, we are seeing some of the fruits of our efforts. This includes:
Having over 240 biotechnology companies, a grown from 78 in 2005.
Having innovative companies that have been bought for significant US dollar amounts.
Having companies that are using biotechnologies to help protect our agricultural export industries.
Having companies that have spread their footprint across the globe, and we are getting the recognition by global bodies – such as the World Health Organization - in the creation of the mRNA vaccine hub for Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen – we therefore see this BIOAfrica convention as an important platform for enhancing biotechnology applications on our continent - Africa.
Let me take this opportunity to thank the Technology Innovation Agency for its generous support of this Convention, and we wish all delegates the best for the next couple of days.
In the course of your hard labour, do find time to visit our City of Durban, and enjoy some of our amazing cuisine such as the “Bunny Chow”, a loaf of bread is hollowed out and filled with a mutton or bean curry.
Durban city has the busiest container port in Africa and one of the busiest in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Durban city is also home to The Ushaka Marine World, which is the worlds 5th largest aquarium. This city was one of the major host cities for the football world cup. It hosted a number of games including the semi final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. This stadium was named after a political freedom fighter, Moses Mabhida.
Enjoy the rest of the convetion and your stay in South Africa.
Thank you
