Professor Robin Crewe
Professor Jacob Palis, President of Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS)
Fellows and Young Affiliates of TWAS
Distinguished guests
I would like to welcome you all here this evening.
My task tonight is to launch The State of Science in South Africa, a book published by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
I would like to thank the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) for providing the stimulus for this publication, and would like to congratulate the ASSAf team for making this possible and commend all authors and reviewers of the various chapters in the book, and in particular the editors, Professor Roseanne Diab, ASSAf Executive Officer, and Professor Wieland Gevers, ASSAf General Secretary, for making this landmark publication a reality.
The book includes contributions by many of South Africa's most distinguished scholars, many of whom are present here tonight.
It also includes the contribution of younger scientists, many of whom are destined to become the future leaders of South Africa. Their reflections are documented in the concluding chapter and they provide us with insights into what encouraged them to follow research careers.
A book of this nature is long overdue. I hope that it will stimulate much discussion and serve as a benchmark in assessing our scientific progress in the future.
We know only too well how difficult it is to design appropriate science policy interventions without adequate statistical data.
From now on I hope that they will have a readily available, authoritative source on the state of science in South Africa that will inform our science and technology policy.
To take one example, we are told that South Africa does not invest enough in basic and fundamental research, that we do not have as many science researchers as we should, and that our scientific workforce is getting old and needs new blood to take us into the future.
And, we are told "that the improvements recorded are still far from achieving any degree of gender or race parity as far as knowledge production is concerned" (page. 65). Four in ten academics are women, but they produce only two out of ten publications. Nearly four in ten academics are black, but they produce only one out of ten publications.
Certainly knowledge of this hard data will serve to remind us of the importance of investing more in mobilising our S&T human capital at both school and university level.
And I hope that the book will be updated on annual basis, if not in hard-copy form, then at least in digital form on the web.
Whilst on the topic of science policy, the Department of Science and Technology in its Ten-Year Innovation strategy (2008 to 2018) has boldly identified interventions in certain critical areas called "grand challenges" that offer opportunities for venturing into areas of research where it seemed, at times, there were impossible barriers.
The grand challenges include the farmer to pharma value chain to strengthen the bio-economy, space science and technology, energy security, global-change science with a focus on climate change, as well as human and social dynamics.
For example, recently I went to Kazakhstan to see the launch of a South African-made satellite, which has enabled us to join other nations in exploring the myriad possibilities presented by scientific and technological research.
This is not a single achievement. It complements other achievements that we have made in this arena, including the South African research centre in Antarctica, the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), and the bid for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
I am pleased to see that the grand challenges identified by the department are reflected in the book through the various research highlights documented in the chapters.
One of the ways in which we highlight and promote research is through the establishment of Centres of Excellence and I am also pleased to see that the seven Centres of Excellence will make presentations at the conference.
Centres create and develop new knowledge, provide access to a highly developed pool of knowledge, and maintain databases. They are also mandated to negotiate and help realise national, regional, continental and international partnerships.
All of this should be to the benefit of and transformation of South Africa towards a knowledge-driven economy. It's also appropriate that the achievements of these centres have been recognised in the book "The State of Science in South Africa".
I hope that during the conference you will have an opportunity to scrutinise our ten-year innovation strategy. You will notice that it encompasses all aspects of science, from physics, environmental, biological, agricultural, medical, and social and humanities.
It's my belief that science cannot be divorced from the challenges a country faces. Science should therefore be used boldly as a major intervention to remedy social deprivation and to inspire people to innovate.
Distinguished guests, TWAS Fellows and members of the international scientific community, I am exceedingly pleased to launch this book.
Professor Jacob Palis, President of TWAS, please accept this gift from South Africa.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
19 October 2009
