Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Reports

This study was commissioned by the Science, Engineering and Technology for Women (SET4W) Reference Group1, a sub-committee of the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) in the Ministry of Science and Technology. The research brief for this project was formulated as follows in the Terms of Reference document: The South African Reference Group on Women in Science and Technology (SET4W) invites submissions for the prepara ion of a mixed methods research study to design a suitable monitoring and evaluation framework to enable SET4W and NACI to regularly evaluate the performance of women in and the contribution of the respective genders to the input and output of the NSI, [ ] and to use this as a basis to advise the Minis er of Science and Technology (p.3). The establishment of SET4W was originally proposed in the National Research andDevelopment (R&D) Strategy (2002:36) as a group of local and international “stakeholders and representatives of organisations with interest in the progress of women in science, to monitor and advise the Department of Science and Technology on relevant issues.” The key objectives of SET4W include:• To assist NACI to promote a research agenda, including influencing funding that will improve the quality of life of women• To assist NACI to promote innovation that will allow women to make a greatercontribution to wealth generation in South Africa• To provide advice on developing mechanisms that will increase the participation and contribution of women in science and technology• To highlight role models that promote women’s entry and advancement in science and technology, and• To play a monitoring role in tracking institutional ..

This publication is not a policy document. It is intended to contribute the latestavailable reliable and valid information to the crucial debate about the value placed in our economy on knowledge and its appropriate use through innovation by the public and private sectors. It is a potentially valuable resource to enrich discussion and to assist South Africa to make better choices in the future.  Innovation, and organisational changes associated with it, is a key determinant ofeconomic growth over the long term. In the past, economic growth was thought todepend on inputs, such as labour and capital investment. Recent studies of economic growth show, however, that innovation and technology determine any economy’s long-term growth prospects (NACI/NSTF, 2001). The NACI/NSTF growth and innovation study of 2001 investigated the interactionsbetween science and technology and economic growth in our setting. Figure 1.1depicts the percentage contribution to South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP)by labour, capital investment, and technology efficiency over the past two decades.This study showed that, whereas in the 1970s growth in real GDP was attributed tocapital and labour contributions, recent economic growth in South Africa could beattributed more to technological contributions than to those of labour and capital(NACI/NSTF, 2001). 

Gender equality is one of the core ideals preserved in the Bill of Rights of the South African Constitution (1993). The government has, therefore, adopted the approach of ‘mainstreaming gender’ in order to respond to gender inequalities. To do that, the government has established ‘gender desks’ or ‘gender focal points’ within each government department, whose responsibility is to ensure the integration of a gender perspective into all policy and implementation activities.  The government has also developed policy and legislation that tagged women as a specific group e.g. Employment Equity legislation. A strong feature of the focus on women and gender is the emphasis on the under-representation of women in the science and technology human resource base. For example, one of the key weaknesses in the existing science and technology system identified in the Research & Development (R&D) Strategy (2002) is the “frozen demographics” of the human resource base. The R&D Strategy notes that the scientific workforce in South Africa is shrinking and growing older insofar as “black and women scientists, technologists and engineers are not entering the academic publishing ranks and that the key research infrastructure is composed of people who will soon retire.” Furthermore, women tend to publish considerably less than their male counterparts, with the publication outputs of women in the 1990s comprising about one fifth of the total.  As part of a number of interventions suggested by the National Plan and R&D Strategy to address gender equity challenges, the establishment of the South African Reference Group [SARG] of Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (currently known as the Science, Engineering and Technology for Women [SET4W]) sub-committee ..

The Council requested the Secretariat to draft an overview of its outputs, outcomes and impacts during its term of office for discussion at its final meeting. The following summary tries to capture in a concise way the effects of Council initiatives undertaken during the period 1 April 2004 to 28 February 2009 under the following headings: conceptual considerations, management processes, outputs, communication and networks, external evaluations, and overarching conclusions.The following sources were consulted in compiling this overview: the Minister’s budget speeches, NACI and DST annual reports, Report on the second NACI review, minutes of NACI meetings, NACI publications and in-house and other ad hoc communications. 

This background report has been prepared as an input to the Organisation forEconomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Country Review of the SouthAfrican National System of Innovation (NSI). The report was drafted by the NationalAdvisory Council on Innovation (NACI) and has been structured according to theframework of the terms of reference for the OECD Review, as agreed between NACI,the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the OECD.Within the African context, the South African NSI is relatively mature and developed. It has a solid governance framework, a clear set of policies, a strong set of performing institutions and funding agencies, and a relatively successful track record as regards innovation itself. Several of the institutions date back to the late 19th or early 20th century, and South Africa has made many important contributions to the domains of both knowledge and technology.  These aspects of the NSI are the challenges for the future. In this report, furtherdetails are provided of the history of the system, its governance and structure, itspolicies and institutions, its inputs and performance, its strengths and weaknesses and some of its unique features. The report concludes with a summary of the main issues and several comments on how the NSI may change in the future. 

The goal of this document is to provide a gender, race and SET sector policy framework within which institutions in the SA national system of innovation (NSI) can implement effective measures for ensuring that South African women participate fully in, and benefit from, innovative SET research, production ofSET products and provision of SET services.   Through the increased participation of women in SET, South Africa can increase its capacity for innovation and grow the size of the contribution of R&D to GDP.The goals of this policy for the period 2006 ‐ 2020 are:• To achieve parity in the participation by South African women in SET research, production of SET products and provision of SET services.• To ensure that women in South Africa benefit from innovative SET research, production of SET products and provision of SET services.  • That through the human capital development of all of its citizens South Africa realizes its scientific and innovation potential.• To ensure that institutions within the NSI regularly collect data1, disaggregated by gender and race, on women’s participation in and benefit from the SET sector and that such data is compiled and used in all relevant decision-making processes in order to promote the aims of this policy.

This document reports the results of an effort to identify international bestpractice related to the management of National Systems of Innovation anddevelop relevant recommendations for South Africa. The report is divided into three main chapters. Chapter one “Best Practice inGovernance” identifies issues related to structures and organisational structures; priority setting; public funding of research and development (R&D) and management of science and technology (S&T) capacity development. Chapter two “Best Practice: Monitoring Science and Technology Systems” provides an overview of the approaches used internationally to monitor and assess the performance of the national system of innovations (NSI). In the chapter are discussed the approaches used by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the USA; the Science and Technology Agency in Japan; the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicators and the approach of the Trend Chart on Innovation by the European Commission. The third chapter “Best Practice: Public-PrivateLinkages/ Technology Transfer in Science and Technology” identifies issues related to public-private linkages in science and technology in general and of technology transfer from universities in particular. Each chapter contains a relevant to South Africa discussion and a set of recommendations. The report ends with a “Summary of Recommendations” where all recommendations are presented together.

A number of changes have occurred in the South African FLOSS landscape since thefirst version of this document was produced in 2002. This revision of the originaldocument extends the discussion of a range of issues, both local and global, thatcontinue to have impact on the progress and potential of FLOSS. These discussionstake advantage of the increased research into the FLOSS phenomenon which hasoccurred over the past two years. The document also indicates the significant progress that has been made since the first version in making FLOSS adoption a priority in South Africa’s public sector. Few would dispute that the Internet is having a dramatic impact on most aspects ofhuman society in the developed and in the developing world. Terms such as theInformation Society, the Knowledge Economy, the Digital Village and the Digital Divide dominate discussions at all levels of the connected society whilst amplifying the exclusion of the unconnected. Behind all these issues lies the Internet. Yet, 13 short years ago, the Internet was far from being an accepted technology or phenomenon, and many, especially in the IT industry multinationals at that time, dismissed it as ‘yet another fad’. The FLOSS phenomenon is clearly making its presence felt in the global networked world. A third mode of production, “commons-based peer-production”, is emerging, beyond property and contract, with both ethical and practical implications for sustainable development world wide.

This publication gives easy access to selected key information about the science and technology (S&T) system of South Africa. It summarises policy and strategic issues, and offers data on selected S&T indicators. Such facts and figures, indispensable for monitoring and evaluating the effects of S&T policy on competitiveness and transformation, need regular updating.South Africa’s S&T system has changed so dramatically over the past six years, moreover, that statistical updates have in certain instances fallen behind, andthere is currently no single source of reference containing reliable up-to-date information.The National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) and the Branch: Science and Technology of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST) have therefore published South African Science and Technology: Key Facts and Figures 2002 as a short-term resource for policy makers, analysts, students, and other interested parties.Further current projects that should, in the medium to long term, significantly improve the availability of information about South Africa’s S&T include:• a (Frascati-guided) research and development (R&D) survey (commissioned by DACST)• an (Oslo-type) innovation survey (University of Pretoria)• an S&T profile of South Africa (NACI and the Foundation for Education, Science and Technology (FEST)).

Massive infrastructural projects already undertaken provide insight into the changing and dynamic nature of the changing priorities of government over time. While the objectives remain relevant, the extent and manner in which they are realised becomes particularly important for effective learning to take place. The MEC of finance at the time provides insight into the national import of the projects despite its provincial location: Gautrain is a turnkey project that will not only change the face of Gauteng but also increase the Province’s competitive edge. It is a flagship public transport project of national significance that will result in the transformation of public transport. It will further contribute to the meeting the objectives of Government such as BBBEE, SMME development, empowerment of women, job creation, economic development and promotion of businesstourism.The project was therefore located as key to national social and economic development and a signal of what South Africa was capable as a ‘world class’ city able to respond to an international agenda for competitiveness. Whether this translated into real developmental outcomes, has however, still to be assessed. With regard to skills development, the skills developed over the course of construction and maintenance have been utilised, but its sustainable use is subject to question. The fact that further development of the project cannot happen outside the framework of a comprehensive transport and spatial development plan is clearly to be lauded, but one is left wondering whether construction ought to have happened before the development of the plan. It was built at the time of immense jubilation and nostalgia in a country overwhelmed by staging of the first ever football World ..

Gender equality is one of the core ideals preserved in the Bill of Rights of the South African Constitution (1993). The government has, therefore, adopted the approach of ‘mainstreaming gender’ in order to respond to gender inequalities. To do that, the government has established ‘gender desks’ or ‘gender focal points’ within each government department, whose responsibility is to ensure the integration of a gender perspective into all policy and implementation activities.The government has also developed policy and legislation that tagged women as a specific group e.g. Employment Equity legislation. A strong feature of the focus on women and gender is the emphasis on the under-representation of women in the science and technology human resource base. For example, one of the key weaknesses in the existing science and technology system identified in the Research & Development (R&D) Strategy (2002) is the “frozen demographics” of the human resource base. The R&D Strategy notes that the scientific workforce in South Africa is shrinking and growing older insofar as “black and women scientists, technologists and engineers are not entering the academic publishing ranks and that the key research infrastructure is composed of people who will soon retire.” Furthermore, women tend to publish considerably less than their male counterparts, with the publication outputs of women in the 1990s comprising about one fifth of the total. 

The purpose of the project reported here is twofold: 1) to assess how community and regional innovation systems have been responding to societal challenges confronting rural South Africans, and 2) to evaluate how the two systems are aligned with each other for increased societal impact. The specific objectives of the study were to:- Investigate if community and regional innovation systems exist in South Africa;- Explore how such systems respond to both economic and societal challenges;and- Establish if there are linkages between the different systems with the aim ofencouraging active participation by local rural communities.