“How can innovation address South Africa’s socio-economic needs?” - Speaking notes, Minister Naledi Pandor, opening plenary panel discussion, Innovation Bridge showcase and Matchmaking event, CSIR
As Africans, we must develop solutions to address our own unique challenges, while positioning ourselves to compete globally with the rest of the world. It's important that we foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly among our youth.
With the unprecedented growth in many sectors – in particular mobile and information and communication technology – there has never been a better time in history for Africans, particularly the youth, to develop solutions that can address a range of challenges.
South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology recognises the importance of meaningful public-private partnerships. These partnerships enhance our capacity to provide innovative solutions to the most pressing social challenges facing our country and continent, such as unemployment, poverty, service delivery, health and, in particular, the scourge of diseases such as HIV and AIDS, TB, diabetes and malaria.
Our National Development Plan recognises science, technology and innovation as central to our efforts to achieve higher economic growth rates and ultimately improve the lives of our citizens.
It seeks to ensure that South Africa’s public policy fosters socio-economic growth and industry-science linkages through increased investments in research, human capital development, intellectual property and trade in high-technology industries.
Our various policy and strategy documents have identified the existence of what is called an "innovation chasm" in our system. To address this in 2008 we established of a new institution, which we called the Technology Innovation Agency, or TIA.
In establishing TIA we envisaged a public institution that would strengthen the country's capacity to translate local research and development into technology-based products and services for socio-economic development.
TIA's primary focus is to provide "early" and second-stage funding, combined with non-financial support, taking into account that existing funding institutions typically focus on late stage funding, such as the Industrial Development Corporation and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
TIA is intended to build capabilities within the national innovation system, to better understand business risk, to conceptualise appropriate financing instruments, and to provide broad technological innovation incubation support and coordination across all sectors of the economy. The creation of strategic local and international partnerships by TIA is essential to leverage capital inflow for technological development, technology transfer and translation of research results and intellectual property to useful products and services.
To indicate where we are with regard to innovation and what challenges still remain, the latest annual Innovation Survey results are instructive:
- 65,4% of South African enterprises are engaged in innovation activities and have technological innovation-based products and processes.
- About 48,2% of South African enterprises introduced new or significantly improved products to the markets.
- Innovative enterprises spent approximately R57 billion on innovation activities (about 1,7% of turnover of all enterprises).
- Our R&D tax incentive, which provides a 150% tax rebate, is intended to increase this expenditure.
The Innovation Survey also reveals that 4,1% of innovative enterprises received public money. Only 2,3% of enterprises applied for patents; 4,3% registered industrial designs; 11,3% registered trademarks; and 5,1% claimed copyright protection.
From these numbers we can see that there are areas in which we are making good progress and areas in which we need to work harder.
Offices of Technology Transfer (OTTs) have been established at 23 South African universities and 10 science councils. These Offices are responsible for the development and implementation of policies for disclosure of all IP created; identification of IP; appropriate protection as well as the commercialisation of the IP and benefit-sharing provisions for the creators.
The DST has provided in excess of R65million supporting the functions of these offices, which has also led to the creation of 48 jobs.
Highly skilled individuals within the OTTs function as the connectors responsible for, among other things, identifying research opportunities that have potential and ensuring that these are explored so that the ensuing IP is utilised to ultimately result in products, processes or services that reach the market and have an impact on the lives of South Africans.
In addition, OTTs generally manage relationships with funding parties, particularly with industry, and are responsible for broad scale IP awareness. OTTs may also drive a number of entrepreneurship activities and may manage seed funding to take an idea closer to the market – for example in the development of a prototype or pilot.
Most of the innovations being exhibited today are as an outcome of the functions and activities of OTTs.
The department is working with science councils, higher education institutions and the private sector on how research and development can open new opportunities for South Africa and the benefits of innovation in improving the economic competitiveness of the country, this includes amongst others:
Value adding to minerals (mineral beneficiation);
- Recording and equal exploitation of indigenous knowledge
- Championing and supporting the development of emerging research areas, such as nanotechnology, photonics, robotics and synthetic biology.
- Co-hosting the IB and the TT100 awards supports, and give public expression to, the Department’s mandate to build strategic partnerships between government, academia and industry with a view to supporting the commercialisation of a greater proportion of the outcomes of publicly funded research and development (R&D).
The IB initiative is the realisation of one of the Department’s objectives of creating an enabling environment where there is an opportunity for technology developers, private and public sector, HEIs and science councils, funders and financiers to have an opportunity to meet, network, formulate partnerships and showcase some of South Africa’s best publicly funded technological innovations.
The IB is expected to take place bi-annually, and depending on the outcome of inaugural IB event, it foreseen that participation of the exhibitors will be broaden to include other stakeholders.
A dedicated website (www.innovationbridge.org.za/) has been developed for the event. Going forward, it is envisaged that the website will be developed into an IB Portal to be launched during 2015.
Once fully functional, the Portal will serve as a virtual platform to complement the biennial IB showcase event and to enable further opportunities to create linkages between government, academia and industry, both nationally and internationally, for technology development and commercialisation on an on-going basis.
