Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Reports

TechnoScene (Pty) Ltd was assigned by the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) to conduct A Study to Determine the Competitive Aspects of the Required Physical Infrastructure to attain the Vision of the National System for Innovation (NSI). This document reports on this study. According to the White Paper on Science and Technology and the NACI Act, a national system of innovation can be thought of as a set of functioning institutions, organisations and policies which interact constructively in the pursuit of a common set of social and economic goals andobjectives through innovation. A prime objective of the NSI is to enhance the rate and quality of technology transfer and diffusion from the science, engineering and technology (SET) sector by the provision of quality human resources, effective hard technology transfer mechanisms and the creation of more effective and efficient users of technology in the business and governmental sectors. The vision of NACI states that: "NACI, as the key source of science and technology advice to government, will successfully promote S&T [Science and Technology] as the primary driver behind South Africa’s economic and social development". NACI is appointed by the Minister of Science and Technology to advise him (and through him Cabinet) on the role and contribution of innovation (including science and technology) in promoting and achieving national objectives, namely to:1. improve and sustain the quality of life of all South Africans2. develop human resources for science and technology3. build the economy4. strengthen the country's competitiveness in the international sphere  Events leading to this investigation of the “Competitive Aspects of the Required Physical Infrastructure to attain the ..

SET4W is a permanent national advisory committee of NACI which aims to provide advice on how to achieve equality between women and men in Science, Engineering and Technology by integrating a gender equity perspective into policy-making, and implementation of the National System of Innovation. NACI is a statutory council which is regulated by the National Advisory Council on Innovation Act (Act No. 55 of 1997) and is appointed by the Minister of Science and Technology to advise him (and through him, the Ministers’ Committee and the Cabinet) on the role and contribution of innovation (including science and technology) in promoting and achieving national objectives.

This booklet provides hands-on information about mainstreaming gender and disability as a strategy to ensure that it occurs throughout the entire science, technology and innovation (STI) sector, and in all aspects of NACI’s day-to-day work, whether it be the work of the Council, the Executive Committee, the Secretariat, or one of the National Advisory Committees. The concept of gender and disability mainstreaming is unpacked within the specific framework of science, mathematics, innovation and technology, and against the backdrop of the national objectives of the improvement of the quality of life of South Africans, the promotion of sustainable economic growth and international competitiveness. Practical mainstreaming tools are provided to enable immediate implementation. 

In order to continuously monitor the state of STI in South Africa, NACI produces the annual South African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Report. The 2020 STI Indicators Report provides information on the state of STI in South Africa over time and within a global context. It collates select STI data and information from different sources so that it may become an integrated resource for NSI actors. It strives to be a factual source of South African and international data. The STI Indicators Report contains a lot of quantitative evidence, which may require further analysis (including qualitative) in order to understand some issues or questions better. As much as it is tempting, the STI Indicators Report does not offer direct policy options nor does it make policy recommendations. 

In 2004 the National Council for Innovation (NACI) published a study entitled Facingthe Facts: Women’s Participation in Science, Engineering and Technology. The studyfound that in most Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) disciplines, and in thesector as a whole, women are significantly under-represented. In addition, only 6.4% of a sample of 17 000 research projects in the public sector was found to have an explicit gender perspective. In short, there was less science being produced by women and for women than by and for men.To work towards correcting these imbalances greater insight into their determiningconditions was required. Consequently NACI, the South African Reference Group forWomen (SARG), and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), commissioned a study exploring the experiences and perceptions of women working in the SET sector. This report presents the findings of that study, and the subsequent recommendations for policy formulation.The objectives of the study were:• To explore the possible reasons for why women are under-represented in the SETsector.• To document perceptions and suggestions for increasing the representation ofwomen in SET.• To explore the possible reasons for why so little research output from the SETsector has an explicit gender perspective.• To prepare policy recommendations based on the findings of the study. 

This document reports on a comprehensive study on the extent and nature of theutilisation of South African research findings, and suggests strategic steps to improve such utilisation. This report will serve as a basis for the recommendationof policy guidelines to government, research funding agencies and institutions inthe national system of innovation. The study aimed to address these and related issues in the first comprehensivequantitative and qualitative study of its kind in South Africa.The study was designed to provide empirical evidence of the extent and dynamicsof research utilisation, as well as strategies for improvement. It consisted of thefollowing four sequential phases:• An extensive analysis of the literature and the development of a conceptualmodel, namely, a network model of knowledge utilisation; research utilisation was conceived as outcomes that could take different forms, such as scientific utility (for example, applied research), economic utility (for example, development of technology) and socio-political utility (for example, inputs to policy development).• A web-based survey of the utilisation behaviour of approximately 11 000researchers in institutions receiving public funding for research in higher education and the science council system; more than 2 000 completed questionnaires were returned.• Telephonic interviews on utilisation behaviour in 112 top South African companies.• In-depth case studies of 12 major research projects.• Three sets of strategies for the improvement of the utilisation of research findings were subsequently developed from the above information base by three different agencies using different methodologies.• Finally, a synthesis report was compiled through an iterative interactive approach among the consortium of researchers and NACI. 

Powerpoint Schematic Representation of the National System of Innovation.

The visit to various institutions in Helsinki and Oulu were initiated by DACST as a followup to the Ministerial visit in 2001. The group of 13 participants from variousuniversities, science councils, innovation support mechanisms, the Department ofCommunications, DACST and NACI spent 4 days studying the “Oulu phenomenon”.The team attended presentations by a number of institutions including the Science and Technology Policy Council (closest equivalent to NACI), key institutions supporting the national system of innovation in Finland, government funding agencies, the University of Oulu and its research institutes, innovation incubators offering business development services and hi-tech operating environments, hi-tech companies and start-up companies and government agencies supporting innovation. The “Oulu phenomenon” describes the development of this region of Northern Finland from a largely agricultural base in the 1980’s to a hi-tech R&D base in the 1990’s, servicing the communities of Northern Finland and enhancing the economicdevelopment of the region. A coherent research and innovation agenda has developed over the last decade that fits well with the local needs of Finland (Information Society/Wellness Society) and with the global economy. The development of a high technology center at Oulu is focused on supporting sustainable rural and regional development. 

Given the elapse of almost a decade since the political transition, it is perhaps time to take stock. In this document we will do so by reference to the growth performance of South Africa, as well as developments in its labour markets in terms of employment opportunities created. But we will also attempt to consider the wider dimension of the human development indicators that may give a more comprehensive view of the developmental successes and failures of the South African economy and society.In developing such an assessment, it will be important to take cognizance of the fact that the new South Africa was not born of a vacuum in 1994. South Africa in 1994 carried with it the baggage of its prior developmental strategies and the structural characteristics this provided it with. That the prior developmental strategy of apartheid was fundamentally flawed and damaging to long-term economic development as been amply documented and established by now, and thus requires little by way of emphasis.But a legacy of four decades of seriously misguided developmental strategy does not dissipate overnight. Putting South Africa onto a new and better growth path will take time, no matter how good the new policy initiatives may be. Understanding the growth trajectory that South Africa finds itself on will have to pay attention to longer-term trends in the key variables of interest. This study therefore hopes to provide an understanding of the wider context within which the South African economy finds itself in its developmental path. In doing so we will consider both international trends in crucial variables, as well as the longer ..

This report, commissioned by the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), provides a profile of the postgraduate subsector of HE and the HE research community in South Africa with a view to informing policy-makers and stakeholders of key trends and issues.Postgraduate education and HE research form a pivotal part of the national science and innovation system and therefore have a key role to play in contributing towards national development. It is therefore important to track and analyse trends in these domains.Constructing the profile has been constrained by the unavailability of complete and reliable data regarding some aspects of the inquiry. It is hoped that this report will form the basis of future and more comprehensive profiles. Despite these data limitations, the profile presents a comprehensive and informative account of the postgraduate subsector and the HE research community. 

The dramatic weakening of the Rand in recent weeks highlights the importance ofproducing South African goods and services to substitute increasingly expensiveimports and to generate exports at relatively low cost. While this applies to practically everything, the goal of this document is to focus on software use and development. A sustained Rand slide will make licenses on imported software (not to mention other imports) prohibitively expensive. Whether or not the Rand enjoys an upswing in future, it makes sense to minimise risk through avoidance, where possible, of dollar-based software license fees and through vigorous encouragement and support of local software development efforts. Needless to say, lowering software costs by violating proprietary license conditions is not an option. Happily, there are often legal alternatives to proprietary software: nonproprietary “open software” attracting no license fees at all. Furthermore, opensoftware may be freely probed, customised and modified. This is the cheapest way of generating software suited to the country’s needs. It is also an ideal jumpstart forentering the software development arena. South Africa and other developing countries are extremely well placed to compete in the global software development market. Creating software is best done with a relatively inexpensive but well trained labour force. Software development is, and will continue to be, a knowledge and people intensive activity. 

In May 2002, NACI identified the need for developing a National Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy for South Africa. This document presents the National Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS) for South Africa. The process for developing the strategy was one of extensive consultation within the private, public and education sectors, and care was taken to ensure strategic fit with other national strategies and the avoidance of unnecessary duplication.  The South African Government, in recognizing the importance of manufacturing in the economy, recently developed two strategies: the National Research and Development Strategy (NRDS) and the Integrated Manufacturing Strategy (IMS). The former, released by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), aims at ensuring that technology resources are better developed, focused and utilized. Thelatter, by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), recognizes that South Africa’s future competitiveness will depend on the capacity of the manufacturing sector to master advanced technology domains, to innovate and to meet the precise needs of customers. The IMS recognizes the need to move from raw material-intensive manufactured goods towards increasingly knowledge-intensive goods and services. The NRDS regards technology and Innovation Missions as central elements for accelerating economic growth, the creation of wealth on a sustainable basis, and the improvement of quality of life of South Africans. 

This document provides a brief overview of international trends in Science, Technology and related policies. It has been prepared on the request of the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) for its strategic planning session of February 2002. The main sources of information appear in the references and provide further details and elaboration.

Competitiveness is defined in the Unites States as the nation’s “ability to increase the real income of all Americans by producing high-value products and services that meet the test of the world markets” (Council on Competitiveness, 2001). In Ireland competitiveness is defined as “the ability to win and keep business in domestic and foreign markets” (National Competitiveness Council, 2001). Competitiveness has become the primary focus of national policy and investment in the developed and developing worlds of the 21st century. Even countries that have and are performing well economically are engaged in a never-ending struggle to locate competitiveness at the centre of the national endeavour to create and institutionalise sustainable development. South Africa must, without delay, establish its own competitiveness ranking system. The creation and the institutionalisation of a culture of competitiveness, though highly desirable, is a daunting challenge that calls for careful planning and implementation if the national effort is to result in sustained competitive advantage. The article focuses on the conditions that must be in place to implement the competitiveness ranking system. In short, what are the implications of deciding to go ahead and attempting to get the most out of the competitiveness ranking system?