FORESIGHT MANUFACTURING REPORT

A Working Group drawn from members of industry, academia, government, para
statals and the NGO sector was convened by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology to examine the impact of likely driving forces over the next twenty years on the Manufacturing and Materials sectors and their markets. The initiative aimed to identify key technologies and how these technologies were likely to impact the sectors contribution to quality of life and wealth creation for South Africa and it's broad population.
The South African Manufacturing and Materials sectors are at a crossroads given the increased liberalization of the local economy and the re-entry of the country into the global arena over the last five years. A decade and a half of isolation has left these sectors more inwardly focused than their international counter parts and has resulted in many instances in a lack of competitiveness. Technology development, assimilation and application will be the crucial determining factors of how, and on what terms, the local industry integrates into the international market.
The working group has made six sets of recommendations regarding the leveraging
up and positioning of the Manufacturing and Materials sectors. Many of these
recommendations refer to 'softer issues' such as: human resource development and
legislative and regulatory frameworks which will allow these sectors to position
themselves in a market from which they have been absent for some time. The
highlighting of such issues is consistent with a country under going the level of
economic and political transformation, which South Africa is experiencing.