Keynote address by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof Blade Nzimande at the HSRC/NRF Engaged Research Conference, at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference
Programme Director, Dr Mzikazi Nduna;
Deputy Minister, Dr. Nomalungelo Gina;
Honourable Members of Parliament;
Dr. Mlungisi Cele, DG Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation;
Dr. Cassius Lubisi, HSRC Board Chairperson;
Prof. Sarah Mosoetsa, CEO of the Human Sciences Research Council;
Prof.Fulufhelo Nelwamondo, CEO of the National Research Foundation;
Chief Electoral Officer, Mr Sy Mamabolo;
Colleagues from the African continent;
Senior Government officials;
Heads of Public Research Institutions;
Heads of Academic Institutions;
Leaders of Business;
Established and Young Researchers and Scientists;
Distinguished guests:
I am deeply honoured by the invitation to come and address this prestigious gathering-the HSRC-NRF Engaged Research Conference.
I am also pleased by the fact that your chosen theme, which is “Engaged Research as A Pathway to Bridging Knowledge and Society” resonates with our Department’s newly adopted mantra, which is “Placing Science, Technology and Innovation at the Centre of Government, Education, Industry and Society”.
Inspired by your theme, I wish to briefly speak on four interconnected issues which I believe are worth considering at a gathering of this stature.
Understanding the current epoch
The first is the importance of developing a correct understanding of the epoch we are in. I often make the point that the early 21st century has sharpened a central paradox in human history.
We have seen the emergence of some of the most mind-blowing technological advances and during the same period, we have also witnessed the most jarring wealth and income gaps within and between nations. Along all this is the unfolding of a real-life genocide in Gaza that is being livestreamed on our screens.
The UN’s 2025 World Social Report observes that “Despite significant gains in poverty reduction, many people teeter on the brink of poverty, even as they move up the income ladder. Over 2.8 billion people—more than a third of the global population—live on $2.15 to $6.85 a day.”
The Report further observes that “Around 60 per cent of people globally are concerned about losing their jobs and being unable to find new ones. At the same time, 65 per cent of the world’s population is living in countries where income inequality is growing.”
This is occurring at a time of major advances in the frontiers of scientific knowledge and new technological changes promising rises in economic productivity, rising prosperity and a world filled with abundance.
Even more instructive is the observation by the report that “A large share of total income inequality can still be attributed to inequality based on characteristics such as race, caste, place of birth and family background.”
The persistence of inequality as described by this UN report can be attributed to a number of factors, not least regarding the powerful intersection of the neo-liberal global political economy and dominant science and technology systems prevalent in significant parts of the international system today.
The effect of these systems, together with their ideological traditions, can also be discerned across many parts of science and technology systems in the Global South.
Humanity is also grappling with a complex set of other challenges such as poor access to quality health care and education, armed conflict, economic risks such as supply chain disruptions and high debt levels and ecological crises like climate change and biodiversity loss.
These challenges are of course not unrelated to the dominant economic system on which economic growth has been based for many centuries.
We also see how all of these challenges are compounded by the growing threat to multilateralism, which has manifested itself in the tendency by some countries to impose their will on the rest of the world, through bullying.
Harnessing the potential of the Global South through research
The second issue I wish to reflect on is the importance of harnessing the potential of the Global South as part of our response to the prevailing global reality.
In addition to being home to the majority of the world’s population, in the last 50 years or so, the Global South has played a significant role in shaping the global economic and geopolitical landscape.
A report titled “Global South Development Achievements and Challenges” by the Global South-South Development Centre observes that “The Global South accounts for 85% of the world’s population, around 40% of the global economy, 46% of global goods exports, 57% of global foreign direct investment inflows, 45% of global manufacturing output, and approximately 50% of intermediate goods exports. The Global South is also actively engaged in addressing global challenges.”
The report further observes that “Many emerging economies have increased their investment in research and development, resulting in continuous enhancement of innovation capabilities. Historic achievements have been made in poverty reduction, with over one billion people in the Global South lifted out of extreme poverty. Significant progress has been made in health. Access to education has been increasingly expanding. The higher education enrollment rate increased from 13% to 38%.”
Despite these positive advances, we still face many forms of uneven development and rising levels of social inequality within the nations of the Global South and much remains to be done to transform its structural causes.
STI can play an important transformative role in enabling new pathways and new opportunities for social mobility and inclusive development, focusing especially on historically marginalised sections of society.
Understanding Africa’s development context
The third issue I wish to reflect on is the importance of South Africa’s scientific community understanding Africa’s development context and the factors that will enable Africa to achieve higher levels of inclusive development.
As you may be well aware, the impact of the legacy of colonialism in the form of structural inequality, poverty and unemployment and new challenges such as climate change continue to impede Africa’s ability to achieve higher levels of development and engage with the rest of the world on an equal footing.
One of the contributing factors is the state or quality of our research infrastructure on the African continent. To strengthen Africa’s capacity to engage meaningfully with the rest of the world, one of the things we need to do is to significantly expand Africa’s research infrastructure, particularly public research capabilities, over the next decade.
If pan-African research infrastructures can be connected more widely, smartly, and efficiently, this will make collaboration among Africa’s scientists and researchers much more seamless and support the development of solid ideas on how we make better use of our vast natural resource endowment and youthful population. It is therefore vital that we make these connections and networks to function on a pan-African scale.
All of this is critical for the ability of our scientists and researchers to enable the implementation and sustainability of the African Union’s Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2034), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with the view of achieving the objectives of Agenda 2063.
The need for a sovereign research agenda for Africa
The fourth and final issue I wish to reflect on is the importance of developing a sovereign research agenda for Africa. A 2025 journal article titled “Status of “African Research and Its Contribution To Global Health Research: A Review and An Opinion” observes that “Although Africa accounts for 14% of the world’s population, it produces very little published research [4], with less than 1% of global research output credited to African scholars [1].”
As we place research, science, technology, and innovation at the centre of Africa’s development, we should also concern ourselves with a number of other critical questions. These are questions such as: who determines the focus areas for the research that is conducted by public science institutions in Africa?
And perhaps more fundamentally, who funds the research that is conducted by our public institutions in Africa and what is their agenda? Apart from the persistence of the coloniality of knowledge, Africa’s research agenda continues to be donor dependent.
This dependency continues to present us with such problems as misalignment with local needs, short-term project focus, loss of IP and the phenomenon referred to as the brain drain.
If there is one thing that should serve as a major mobilising factor for the development of a sovereign research agenda for Africa it is our tragic experience at the height of the global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
During this period, we found ourselves in a situation where the lives of millions of people on the African continent were dependent on vaccines and therapeutics from other parts of the world. We should never find ourselves in this precarious situation again and one of the ways of avoiding this is by developing a sovereign research agenda for Africa.
Conclusion
As stated, we are living through a time that is characterised by unprecedented geopolitical and economic shifts, but also a time that presents us with a number of unique development opportunities as evidenced in the potential of transformative technologies such as AI.
These opportunities must however be consciously and deliberately harnessed and directed to tackle the major developmental and transformational challenges faced by the majority of our citizens.
In the midst of all this, as a country and continent, we must develop well-thought-out ideas on how we wish to position ourselves and help to shape transitions within the global geopolitical economy.
We therefore take the view that, what we understand to be engaged research must not just be concerned with shaping critical public policy and stimulating innovation and meaningful socio-economic transformations.
Engaged research must also concern itself with designing a new set of human and social relations whose ultimate goal is the realisation of a more just and humane world. This is why I wish to commend the HSRC for always conducting your research as an integral part of society and not as detached observers.
Your conference has a vast and multi-disciplinary scope of discussion themes, and I am hopeful that you will help us to produce important insights into how engaged research can be used to construct a shared and sustainable future.
I wish you a productive conference and look forward to the outcome of your deliberations. Thank you for your attention.
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