President Cyril Ramaphosa has lauded the first Presidential Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Plenary as an important initiative to bring together government, academia, civil society and industry to collectively drive South Africa's national system of innovation (NSI).
Opening the STI Plenary on 12 December at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research International Convention Centre in Pretoria, the President said STI is essential for economies to thrive and for societies to prosper.
The plenary followed the adoption of the STI Decadal Plan, which guides the first 10 years of implementing the 2019 White Paper on STI. The White Paper introduced an Interministerial Committee on STI and the presidential plenary as instruments to enhance STI policy coherence, as well as programme and budget coordination in the NSI.
About 350 people gathered to discuss the progress of the NSI and challenges in this sector and explored ways for STI and skills development to build the South African economy.
At the event, the president announced the establishment of the Presidential PhD Initiative through an initial R1 billion investment from the National Skills Fund.
"The aim of the first phase is to expose our country's brightest young minds to cutting-edge thinking and research by negotiating opportunities at world-leading universities and research centres," said President Ramaphosa.
He added that their studies would be linked to large-scale and established research programmes, in both public research facilities and industry.
The programme will build critical skills in areas like artificial intelligence research, advanced biotechnology, fuel-cell development, batteries and other storage, and next-generation mining.
The president called on the private sector and international partners to assist in growing the investment in the Presidential PhD Initiative fund to R5 billion by 2030. He also urged the science sector to work collaboratively and ensure synergy between programmes across the NSI.
"Pooling resources and expertise has been a guiding principle of the work that the government is doing with organisations such as Business Unity South Africa and Business for South Africa," he said.
Speaking at the plenary, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, also emphasised the role of education and STI in social progress.
“We know that nations such as Japan, South Korea and Germany have put STI in the service of their societies, with commendable results. Hardly any of us are not aware of the role STI policy and strategy have played in the meteoric rise and spectacular growth of South Korean companies such as Samsung and Kia or German companies such as Siemens and Volkswagen," said the Minister.
In South Africa, STI is being used to enhance service delivery and improve the capacity of the state.
"We are exploiting our space technologies to collect satellite data and to use these to inform government decision making. To illustrate, through our space programme of Earth observation for human settlements, we can monitor informal settlements and housing development projects using high-resolution satellite imagery, thereby improving planning and identifying areas that are vulnerable to geo-environmental risks," said Minister Nzimande.
The business sector bemoaned the decline of local manufacturing over the past 25 years, which has negatively affected South Africa's GDP. Stavros Nicolaou, Senior Executive responsible for strategic trade development at Aspen Pharmacare Group, said that, while the decline is regrettable, it does present the country with an opportunity to reverse it. He said innovation is a huge job creator and has a more impactful economic multiplier effect.
Dr Nicolaou said that Aspen will be producing insulin in Gqeberha, emphasising the need for Africa to start manufacturing its own vaccines and pharmaceuticals as the continent has a huge disease burden. He also called on the government to prioritise preferential procurement and localisation efforts to reduce importing pharmaceuticals.
Other stakeholders at the plenary called for greater collaboration, as partnering with the business sector, academia and civil society will move South Africa forward.
This article was first published on 14 December by South Africa Department of Science and Innovation.
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