11 April 2007
Innovation levels are high in South Africa with more than half of local
businesses engaging in innovation activities between 2002 and 2004.
This is according to the first official South African Innovation Survey
which was released by the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Derek
Hanekom, at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) earlier today.
According to the survey the rate of innovation in South Africa compares
favourably with countries like Sweden where 50% of enterprises are innovative,
the United Kingdom (UK) (at 43%) and Portugal (41%).
Deputy Minister Hanekom welcomed the survey results saying that "this
indicates the country's National System of Innovation (NSI) recognises the
importance of increasing technological innovation for the competitiveness of
South African firms and increasing the growth of the economy."
"Innovation is one of the most important mechanisms through which technology
can be leveraged to create wealth, leap frog developmental backlogs and
contribute towards a better quality of life for all," according to Hanekom.
The survey also revealed that South African businesses spent about R27,8
billion in 2004 on innovation activities, representing about 2,4% of the total
turnover of all businesses covered in both the industrial and services
sectors.
The bulk of this expenditure (56%) was devoted to the acquisition of new
machinery, equipment and software allowing innovative enterprises to produce
new or substantially improved products or services.
Product innovators with innovations in either goods or services accounted
for the majority of innovators in the survey. About 10% of turnover of product
innovators were for goods that were new to the market, equivalent to about
R67,8 billion.
The survey results show that many businesses in South Africa undertake small
amounts of research and Development (R&D) less than R1 million. Deputy
Minister Hanekom said, "It is particularly gratifying to note that apart from
the expected large R&D performers in South Africa there appear to be many
diverse businesses undertaking small amounts of R&D."
He added that it is important for government to extend its support and
encourage these enterprises to persevere and grow their R&D
expenditures.
The new R&D tax incentives announced by the Treasury last year are aimed
at encouraging more firms to undertake R&D with a view to increase
innovation.
The survey provides internationally comparable data on innovation activities
in mining, manufacturing and services including wholesale and retail trade
sectors in South Africa with a representative, nationwide overview of
innovative behaviour among local firms.
The survey is part of the Department of Science and Technology's efforts to
establish a baseline set of science and technology indicators for monitoring,
reporting on and fine tuning the NSI.
The results will be used to inform policy makers and support measures for
innovation in the economy and thus assist to present an overview of the
effectiveness of the current policy and support mechanisms.
The results are also expected to assist enterprises to benchmark their
activities against those of other enterprises nationally and internationally
and enable these companies to evaluate themselves internally.
Furthermore, the results of the survey will assist the government to get a
representative, nationwide overview of the innovative behaviour of South
African businesses.
In this regard, researchers have collected information about product and
process innovation as well as organisation and marketing innovation over three
years, from 2002 to 2004, to be able to present an overview of the
effectiveness of the current policy and support mechanisms.
The Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CeSTII) of the
Human Resources Research Council (HSRC) was commissioned by the Department of
Science and Technology to undertake the 2005 National Innovation Survey.
For media information contact:
Celeste Tema
Deputy Director: Department of Science and Technology
Cell: 082 928 5221
E-mail: celeste.tema@dst.gov.za
Kristin Klose
Director: Communication, Department of Science and Technology
Cell: 082 902 9503
E-mail: kristin.klose@dst.gov.za
Nthabi Maoela
Ministerial Liaison, Science and Technology
Cell: 082 944 0015
E-mail: nthabiseng.maoela@dst.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
11 April 2007
