Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentleman, and thank you for attending our first media briefing.
I hope it’s the first of many to come, as we wish to work closely with the media in ensuring that all South Africans fully appreciate and value the role of science and technology and innovation, not only in their lives, but in the development of the nation in general.
This briefing follows my meetings with both the leadership of my department and hopefully with the entities that report to it. These are the National Research Foundation, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Human Sciences Research Council (into which the Africa Institute of South Africa has been incorporated), the Technology Innovation Agency, the National Advisory Council on Innovation, the Academy of Science of South Africa, the South African National Space Agency, and the South African Council for the Natural Scientific Professions.
Our discussions centred on how we can help to implement government's mandate as expressed in the National Development Plan (NDP), which incorporates the New Growth Path, Industrial Policy Action Plan, and Agricultural Policy Action Plan.
We also talked about how we can align our strategic plans with the manifesto of the governing party, given its five-year mandate.
Two steps we will be taking will be (1) to finalise the implementation plan for the Bio-economy Strategy launched earlier this year, and (2) to complete the Strategy and implementation plan for Human Capital Development for Research, Innovation and Scholarship. .
We discussed government's priorities with regard to growing the economy, and tackling unemployment, inequality and poverty, emphasising that the implementation of the National Development Plan is a priority for this administration. The NDP identifies education, training and innovation as being at the centre of South Africa’s long-term development, and specifically states that "inadequate capacity will constrain knowledge production and innovation unless effectively addressed".
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and its entities will therefore continue to focus on overcoming the challenges facing the South African science, technology and innovation sector, including human capital development and the continuous modernisation of scientific infrastructure such as laboratories and IT equipment, so that we can unlock the potential of science, technology and innovation to contribute to economic growth.
The DST and our science entities will focus on skills development, knowledge generation and exploitation, provision of and access to research and development infrastructure, and the advancement of international cooperation in science, technology and innovation in Africa and the rest of the world.
In its workplace preparation programmes, the DST annually provides opportunities for 700 young, unemployed graduates to gain relevant work experience in science, engineering and technology institutions. In the coming years this programme will grow to provide support to about 1 000 graduates and postgraduates every year at an annual cost of R80 million. In addition, the DST will invest R400 million per annum to support postgraduate students.
We need to massively expand funding in this programme to increase the number of knowledge workers in South Africa.
Increasing the number of researchers and enhancing research and innovation skills and outputs contribute positively to improving South Africa's international competitiveness as a producer of scientific knowledge and innovation. In respect of established researchers, the Centres of Excellence Programme and the South African Research Chairs Initiative have continued to grow. By the end of the current MTEF, the investment in SARChI will have grown to about R450 million per annum, with all 157 research chairs fully operational.
The department's priorities will be informed by the following:
· We will be pursuing an African agenda, particularly in the Southern African Development Community. This will include our work on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope and the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network, or AVN. We will be working on the construction of the SKA and the realisation of its potential for scientific development on the African continent. As you are aware, we are making progress with the first phase of the SKA, the MeerKAT. We also consider it vital to raise the profile of the department and its entities, as well as to strengthen public engagement with science, technology and innovation, and to popularise them as subjects for study and careers.
· As far as contributing to socio-economic development, high priority will be given to developing and exploiting the innovation capacity of the national system of innovation.
· It is important that we transform the science, technology and innovation sector so that we can tap the potential of all South Africans. We need to attract and retain research excellence and create career pathways for highly skilled young researchers, particularly black and women scientists.
We have decided on steps to be taken to implement several of the recommendations made by the Ministerial Review Committee on the Science, Technology and Innovation Landscape in South Africa Details of these will be announced during our Budget Vote.
We intend to build on the very successful Science, Technology and Innovation Summit of 2013, and have agreed to host a second summit later this year. This will allow the department, the science councils and other stakeholders in science, technology and innovation (both private and public) to extend discussions aimed at achieving a focused, aligned and more competitive system of research, development and innovation for South Africa.
The leadership of the DST and its entities have agreed that we will capitalise on the opportunities available in the next five years. We will support the achievement of government priorities by intensifying support for basic fundamental and applied research, development and innovation to advance South Africa as a knowledge based economy.
Thank you.
