Nokia Vice President, Mr Jussi Hinkkanen
Managing Director of Nokia Siemens Networks South Africa, Mr Rufus Andrew
Acting Executive Director of the CSIR Meraka Institute, Mr Laurens Cloete
Director-General of Science and Technology, Dr Phil Mjwara
Leaders of industry
Members of the media
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Let me start by thanking the organisers for the invitation to come and speak to you on this very important occasion – the media launch of the collaboration between the Department of Science and Technology and Nokia.
The partnership we are launching today has been in the making for more than a year, and the memorandum of understanding between my department and Nokia was signed on 31 May 2011.
It is perhaps important to note that this collaboration includes Nokia Siemens Networks, whose focus will be on the Square Kilometre Array project, or the SKA, as it is commonly known.
Ladies and gentlemen, this partnership could not have come at a better time – a time when information and communication technologies are widely recognised as potent tools for socio-economic development and catalysts for the emerging knowledge economy.
Information and Communications technology (ICT) has an impact on society and the economy, both as an industrial production sector and through the demand effect it has on other economic sectors and society.
Our National Research and Development Strategy identified ICT as one of our priority technology missions, my department developed the ICT Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Strategy aimed at producing high-end skills (master's and PhDs) to enable, build and strengthen the innovation chain and the capacity of South Africa to perform world-class research in ICT.
I am pleased to announce that, over the past five years, our investment in ICT RDI has yielded good returns. Through a dedicated advanced human capital development programme at the Meraka Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), our postgraduate enrolment has increased from 16 master's and two PhDs in 2005/06, to 17 master's and 20 PhDs in the current financial year.
In addition to this important and welcome contribution to the number of postgraduate students, the Research and Development (R & D) outputs are gradually evolving into near-market prototypes, large-scale technology demonstrators, and packaged solutions that can readily address key government priorities like education, health and enhanced citizen interaction with government.
Examples of programmes that are currently supported by my department and are being implemented by the CSIR's Meraka Institute include:
- a large-scale wireless mesh network demonstrator to support government's rural broadband connectivity initiative
- a mobile application project, which involves innovative pilot initiatives that aim to enhance teaching and learning using mobile phones
- a human language technology research programme, which addresses South Africa's language diversity and supports the inclusive use of ICT to enhance government service delivery and
- the Advanced Fire Information System, which is an automated alert and mapping system providing near real-time information related to the detection, monitoring and assessment of wild fires in South Africa. This system has become an integral part of Eskom's transmission lines monitoring and management system, providing staff with alert messages.
Programme director, despite these achievements, we acknowledge that there are still some weaknesses in the ICT Research, Development and Innovation Strategy and its implementation. For instance, we have not yet reached the level of ICT research and development intensity required for us, as a country, to be globally competitive.
Secondly, our national system of innovation still lacks adequate capacity to produce the critical mass of human resources in ICT R&D. Lastly, we have not yet fully optimised and leveraged the benefits of public-private partnerships to ensure the sustainable development and growth of the ICT sector.
As part of our effort to address these challenges, the Department of Science and Technology recently developed and adopted a strategic framework that enables effective engagement and collaboration with multinational ICT companies such as Nokia.
Furthermore, my department, in partnership with the CSIR, is developing a long-term implementation roadmap for ICT R&D and innovation. The goal of the implementation roadmap is to strengthen the local ICT RDI ecosystem, which will enable growth and development of the ICT industry in the country.
Through a series of workshops, this project has already taken stock of current ICT research, development and innovation capabilities and initiatives in South Africa, analysed future trends and market opportunities from a national and global perspective and, from this, identified future directions for ICT RDI in South Africa.
While the roadmap document is being finalised, the preliminary findings from the workshops identified key themes from the analysis of market opportunities, trends and existing ICT research, development and innovation capabilities. Alongside areas such as broadband infrastructure and services, sustainability and the environment, together with industry applications, the service economy has been identified as one of the future market pillars for ICT.
Interestingly, mobile enablement emerged as one of the key areas that provide opportunities for ICT innovations under the service economy theme.
Of all the regions of the world, Africa has realised the greatest increase in mobile phone penetration in the past 10 years. In South Africa alone, current statistics show that mobile phone subscriptions exceed 100% of the population. Over a short period of time, we have seen the rapid evolution of the mobile phone to a multimedia device offering video, data and many other capabilities.
Nokia is one of the world leaders in the mobile phone market. We are also aware that one of Nokia's key success factors is significant investment in research and development.
It is therefore logical to conclude that the partnership that we are formalising today will focus primarily on mobile technology R&D and innovation, which should result in the development of new services, applications and content on mobile platforms. This should ultimately lead to innovations in business, education and healthcare, and increase accessibility to markets and government services and information.
With regard to our collaboration with Nokia Siemens Networks, we look forward to a partnership that will help strengthen Africa's bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) – the largest radio telescope ever. I am confident that the partnership will help enhance the capabilities and competencies required to build and operate a mega scientific infrastructure project of the magnitude of the SKA.
In fact, the computing power required for the SKA, when fully completed, will be on a scale never seen or heard of before. The project will have to be matched with the knowledge and capacity to deal with the demands for large-scale data storage, processing and high-bandwidth requirements.
In addition, Programme director, I would like to urge the role players in this partnership to ensure that the interventions that will be implemented under the memorandum of understanding are aligned with government's key priorities.
The desired impact will be achieved if our programmes are geared towards addressing the broader government socio-economic development imperatives, such as job creation, skills development and poverty eradication. In this context, it is important to consider the following questions as projects are being developed:
- How can government use mobile services and devices to enhance service delivery, including quality education and health care services?
- How can people meaningfully use the mobile phone – the de facto personal computer for Africa – to access information, services, products and opportunities?
- What are the most appropriate business models to be deployed to ensure the sustainability of these innovations?
- And lastly, over and above the envisaged astronomy advances, what are the socio-economic opportunities presented by the SKA project, including the drivers and spillovers that can greatly enhance our efforts to create a better life for all?
I am sure that if this partnership can adequately respond to these questions, we shall have set in motion our quest to nurture future entrepreneurs and innovators, who will ensure the building of a vibrant and sustainable indigenous ICT industry that addresses a significant portion of South Africa's – and Africa's – developmental challenges.
In closing, Programme director, I would like to reiterate the importance we place on ICT R&D in order to develop a society enabled by innovation and ICT applications. Our emphasis on the development of advanced human resource capacity remains key to our strategic goals.
As the Department of Science and Technology, we attach high value to meaningful strategic partnerships. I am therefore extremely pleased that Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks have joined forces with us as we seek new and better solutions for improving the quality of life of South African citizens through ICT.
It is my sincere hope that this partnership will grow from strength to strength, and that it will eventually inspire many of our country's corporations to find ways of making their own contribution towards ensuring that South Africa, and Africa, are a better place in which to live.
Thank you.
