Programme Director and CEO of NACI, Dr Mlungisi Cele;

Premier of Guateng, Mr. Panyaza Lesufi;

Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ms. Nomalungelo Gina;

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ms. Tsakane Shiviti;

Mr Tilson Manyoni, Chairperson of the National Advisory Council on Innovation;

The Mayor of Ekurhuleni, Mr. Nkosindiphile Xhakaza;

Heads of public entities;

Senior government officials;

Heads of our Science Institutions;

Heads of Academic Institutions;

Leaders of Business;

Leaders of Organised labour;

Distinguished guest speakers, academics and researchers;

Students and young people;

Esteemed delegates:

Introductory remarks

Let me start by expressing my gratitude to all of you for attending this important and historic inaugural Summit on the transformation of our country’s National System of Innovation (NSI).

A special word of welcome to those who are joining us remotely and from other parts of the world. We are hosting this Inaugural Summit during a very exciting and also challenging time for us a country- a time when South Africa is the G20 President against the backdrop of major shifts and tension points in the global economic and political environment.

The global context

Colleagues, we are meeting at a time when the world is being battered by a series of convergent crises– of neo-liberal economic globalisation, ecological sustainability and social reproduction (inequality) – which collectively and cumulatively register all the hallmarks of a generalised global (planetary) crisis. What the Secretary General of the United Nations refers to as a ‘polycrisis’.

The roots of the crisis are to be found in the destructive impact of dominant forms of economic growth on earth’s life supporting systems which are being pushed to a set of critical ‘tipping points’ – runaway global warming, destruction of whole ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, acidification of the world’s oceans, and unprecedented levels of global social inequality.

Whilst we accept that natural factors drive climate change, the human impact on our planet’s future sustainability is an undeniable reality. At the same time, major advances in science and technology have been transforming many aspects of the global economy and bringing with it huge disruptions in labour markets, production and consumption of goods and services across entire economies.

An example being the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) which is characterised by the blurring of boundaries between the physical, biological and digital worlds, and infusing technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), automation, robotics, blockchain and machine/deep learning tools into the process of capital accumulation and surplus extraction.

Whilst no section of society will be left unscathed, the worst effects of these disruptive changes are being felt by the most marginalised sections of society, particularly the working classes and poor of the Global South.

It is often argued that technology is the ‘great equaliser’, that allows us to ‘leapfrog’ from poverty, and the digital world is a ‘new democracy’. None of these claims, by themselves, are true.

My view is that technologies are extensions of social relations and can only be properly understood in the context of such relations. There is therefore nothing inherently democratic or equalising about any technology.

For it to serve such ends, we must consciously and deliberately direct and steer these instruments to drive social justice, equal and inclusive outcomes.

Similarly, we must bear in mind that almost all technologies have dual-use purposes: they can be harnessed to perpetuate relations of exploitation, neo-colonialism and imperialism as was the case in our recent past; or they can be used as instruments of social emancipation.

It is for this reason that the early 21^st century has sharpened a central paradox in human history: at a time of great scientific and technological breakthroughs, we are witnessing the highest levels of social inequality on a global scale; including a live, realtime genocide in Gaza that is AI facilitated! How could this be?

In this connection, Ángel Gurría argued that many people “feel left behind, excluded, and treated as unimportant. Many people live precarious lives or have already fallen through the cracks of society into poverty and unemployment.

They feel at the mercy of big impersonal forces of globalization, technological change, large corporations and financial institutions. Public trust towards STI is important to the responsible development of advanced and emerging technologies as illustrated by ongoing discussions around gene drive or artificial intelligence (AI) (2018).

In response to these growing levels of social anxiety, in 2023, the United Nations adopted a resolution proclaiming the period 2024-2-33 as the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD) and directed UNESCO to play a leading role in promoting scientific literacy, open and basic sciences, human rights and harnessing the power of national systems of innovation to better serve society.

More recently, the Heads of State and Governments adopted the United Nations’ Pact for the Future, Global Digital Compact, and Declaration on Future Generations with several actions.

This Pact allocated a central role to science, technology and innovation. Action 28 of this Pact, which focuses on science, technology innovation and digital cooperation states the following:

“…We will seize the opportunities presented by science, technology and innovation for the benefit of people and planet. We will be guided by the principles of equity and solidarity, and promote the responsible and ethical use of science, technology and innovation.

We decide to:

(a) Foster and promote an open, fair and inclusive environment for scientific and technological development and cooperation worldwide, including through actively building trust in science and global collaboration on innovation;

(b) Increase the use of science, scientific knowledge and scientific evidence in policymaking and ensure that complex global challenges are addressed through interdisciplinary collaboration; and

(c) Encourage talent mobility and circulation, including through educational programmes, and support developing countries to retain talent and prevent a brain drain while providing suitable educational and working conditions and opportunities for the workforce” (2024).

Further, the Heads of State and Government committed to scale up the means of implementation to developing countries to strengthen their science, technology and innovation capacities.

Yet today, we are witnessing a resurgence of nationalistic and rightwing forces in various parts of the world creating new barriers and threats to the vision of a more equal and inclusive world as envisaged by the UN. Amongst these are those who are seeking to actively support those within our country who are still yearning for the apartheid era and seeking to undermine all interventions aimed at transforming South Africa into a truly non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous nation with an inclusive economy.

The South African context

Our Government has long been committed to harnessing South Africa’s scientific capabilities in a manner that both addresses our national development imperatives but also contributes to the building of a more just and equal world.

It is therefore important that we ensure that the process of building and shaping our national system of innovation is founded on a sound understanding of our historical and developmental context.

Historically, the racist white minority regime used the public science system to advance its oppressive agenda of entrenching white power and excluding the black majority from opportunities, which included being excluded from acquiring the necessary technical and scientific education that will empower them to engage in high level science, technology, innovation and commerce.

This resulted in among others a distorted distribution of critical skills and knowledge, mainly along racial, class, gender and spatial lines, and the systematic exclusion of the majority from the strategic sectors of the economy-something whose impact we continue to feel today.

Therefore, recognising the root causes and primary contradictions of our contemporary conjuncture is critical for the project of achieving transformative national development.

As noted by the Secretary-General of the UN, Mr. António Guterres "…our world becomes more unsustainable, unequal and unpredictable. Conflicts are raging, the climate crisis is accelerating, inequalities are growing, and new technologies have unprecedented potential for good – and bad" (ibid.).

Building an inclusive, agile and responsive NSI  

In response of this, over the last 30 years, we have sought to build a NSI that is inclusive and able to unlock the capabilities of all South Africans as agents of social transformation and economic development.

To enable this, the democratic state created a number of policies. This includes the 1996 White Paper on Science and Technology, 1998 National Research and Technology (R&T) Audit, the National R&T Foresight Project; the NRDS (in full) and the TYIP (in full).

Then in 2004, we created a stand-alone department of science and technology and in 2019, promulgation of the White Paper on Science and Technology and Innovation, and subsequent Decadal Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (2022-2032).

Under the DST, now DSTI, we also expanded the size of our NSI by creating the National Advisory Council on Innovation, the Association of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), the National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO), and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA).

As part of this expansion, the CSIR was transferred from the then Department of Trade and Industry to the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation.

All this resulted in laying a strong basis for breaking away from the apartheid science and technology system and building one of the most capable National Systems of Innovation on the African continent.

Strategic Weaknesses of our NSI

Even though we have clearly come a long way and made significant progress since 1994, the true potential of our public science system has not yet been fully realised.

Neither have we been able to optimise our true potential across government, education, industry, and society and there are of course a number of possible reasons for this.

STI human resources and expansion of research capacity:

The 2023 STI Report shows that the participation of black people and women at the highest levels (e.g. as professors) remains too low. Despite the increasing representation of both African and female permanent academic staff at public universities – with their share rising from 27,82% in 2011 to 37,51% in 2020 – the demographic composition of professors remains unbalanced.

While there are now more female professors, those numbers are disproportionately white. The report also shows that, while student enrolment at universities has grown, the number of academics has not proportionally increased.

Unless the system expands at a higher rate than natural attrition, there will be slow growth in the intake of the next generation of black and/or female academics.

The proportion of staff over 60 years of age (both men and women) increased from 7,3% in 2011 to 10,4% in 2020.

This trend implies that public universities will lose about 10% of permanent staff with doctoral qualifications due to retirement within the next five years. Furthermore, the proportion of staff aged 20 to 29 declined from 7,9% in 2011 to 5,8% in 2020.

Although there is an increase in the proportion of staff aged 30 to 39, this increase is lower than that of staff aged over 60. The percentage of staff in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has remained consistent over time.

In 2010, the proportion of STEM staff among all staff was 51,5%, which rose slightly to 51,9% in 2021. This finding is, on reflection, not surprising. South African academics, once appointed on a permanent basis, cannot easily be replaced.

Given that the typical academic career is around 40 years, universities have often been compared to large tankers which change courses slowly and with difficulty.

Declining Gross Investments in Research and Development:

South Africa's research and development (R&D) intensity, measured by gross expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP, stood at 0.61% in 2019, which is below the global average.

A significant factor contributing to this is the decline in business R&D expenditure, which dropped from -3.5% in 2012 to -10.8% in 2021. However, a notable turnaround occurred in 2021/22, with a 26,4% increase in business R&D expenditure.

This surge was driven by Public investments in key research fields, including information and communication technologies, medical and health sciences, and materials science.

Investment in manufacturing, financial intermediation, real estate and business services also contributed to the overall growth. While this trend indicates a positive shift in R&D investments across various sectors, the sustainability of these investments remains to be seen.

To fully unlock South Africa's innovative potential, investment in R&D must increase at a higher rate of growth than the overall economic growth rate.

Declining patent activity:

International patent applications from South Africa declined by 40% between 2013 and 2022, potentially hindering the country's economic growth, competitiveness and ability to attract foreign investment.

Implementing policies that incentivise research and streamline patent processes can help drive innovation and increase patenting activity in South Africa.

Diminishing venture capital investment:

South Africa's venture capital investments are concentrated in the Western Cape and Gauteng, with growth slowing in 2020 and declining by 10,2% between 2021 and 2022.

The country's share of African venture capital deals decreased to 14% in 2022, surpassed by Nigeria's 22%. This suggests a need for increased investment and support for start-ups and innovation in the other provinces to drive economic growth and competitiveness.

Structural Factors in the wider Political Economy:

South Africa's socio-economic crisis is both a cause and a result of the low investment in research, development and innovation activities. With less money available for investment, the potential of STI to make a socio-economic contribution to the country is constrained.

South Africa has a 62,6% poverty rate, a 61,5% youth unemployment rate, and a Gini coefficient of 66.92. Addressing these challenges requires fresh thinking, new approaches and innovative strategies if we are to succeed in steering the NSI out of rocky waters.

It will require new forms of collaboration and sharing of scare resources to amplify impact. It will require greater linkages across the Public and Private sectors.

It will require our NSI to forge linkages across the wider continent, particularly within the SADC region, as well as within emerging alliances such as BRICS.

What are the strategic and policy questions that the Summit should critically reflect on?

Our 2019 White Paper on STI identifies inclusivity, transformation and partnerships as core themes, and proposes a range of actions to address policy coherence, the development of human resources, knowledge expansion, innovation and increased investment.

As an implementation instrument, our 2022 Decadal Plan for STI seeks to "address the need to develop South Africa's innovation capacity, build and transform STI human resources, strengthen and transform the research enterprise, and expand partnerships and linkages through science diplomacy" (DSI, 2022).

We therefore view the convening of this Summit as contributing to the implementation of our White Paper and Decadal Plan and the UN resolution on the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development 2024-2033 and Pact for the Future (UN, 2024).

However, this Summit is also in response to a resolution of Parliament that was sponsored by our Portfolio Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation, which resolution enjoins the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation to take decisive action to ensure that our NSI is transformed and responsive to our national priorities.

Arising from this, it is our expectation that this Summit must address two fundamental questions, namely:

• Why has the post-apartheid NSI transformation not yielded all the desired outcomes as outlined in the Decadal Plan and White Paper; and
• What practical steps can we take to deepen and accelerate the transformation of NSI to better serve government, education, society, economy and the planet?

In deliberating on the theme of the Summit, I would like to urge you to critically reflect on the transformation of the NSI along a number of dimensions:

• Transformation and Social Inclusion (including People with disabilities) in the NSI;
• Africanisation and indigenous knowledge in the NSI (highlighting the role of grassroots community networks);
• The Political economy of science and technology in SA;
• Public trust in Science and Technology;
• Social transformation within the NSI: how far have we come?;
• Cultural transformation within the NSI;
• Transformation of knowledge production and social relations of knowledge production;
• NSI and the Africa Agenda and Global South Agenda; and
• The new Geopolitical Challenges of South African Science, Technology and Innovation.

Finally, we recently adopted a new mantra as the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, which is: Placing Science, Technology and Innovation at the Centre of Education, Government, Society and Industry.

Our mantra moves from the premise that no country can hope to achieve its core development goals without making a meaningful investment in its science, technology and innovation capabilities.

This mantra also arises out of the realisation that, while many of our public science institutions are doing remarkable work, as a system, we are not communicating with and engaging the public sufficiently about the remarkable work that is being done by science institutions and scientists.

This Summit should therefore also provide us with some practical recommendations on how best to raise the levels of public awareness of science in our country.

The desired way forward

In conclusion, at the end of the two days, our expectation is that this Summit will provide us with well thought out and practical recommendations on all the key policy and strategic questions that will be discussed in the various sessions.

We also expect this Summit to adopt a declaration that will not only serve as a pact for action, but also as a reference to assess progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the Summit, over the next ten years.

With these few words, I wish to once again thank each of you for responding to our invitation to form part of this historic gathering. I wish you a productive Summit and look forward to the outcome of your deliberations.

Programme Director, Dr Mlungisi Cele;

The Professor Blade Nzimande, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation;

Mr Tilson Manyoni, Chairperson of National Advisory Council on Innovation;

Academics, Researchers, Panellists and Delegates;

Members of the Media;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of the Gauteng Provincial Government, is my honour to welcome all of you to this inaugural National System of Innovation Transformation Summit.

It is indeed true that science, technology and innovation (STI) can serve as a catalyst for a more inclusive, equitable, sustainable, and prosperous world for all. Nowhere does this ring truer than in South Africa.

In a country such as South Africa where for many decades successive governments denied the majority of the population access to science and technology with the singular aim of holding them down, it is absolutely crucial to ensure that the levers of scientific knowledge are as universally accessible as possible.

It is widely acknowledged that through science and technologies countries which were lagging behind can catch up with developed countries in a relatively short space of time. China and India and living examples of this truism.

This is the truth that the GPG has taken to heart. It is for this reason that we are encouraged by this inaugural Summit which reaffirms the strategic value of national systems of innovation.

Within the context of both the National Development Plan (NDP) and the 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation as government policy, Gauteng has launched its own 4IR Growth and Digitisation Strategy in 2021.

We consider this intervention an important policy responses to expand the role that STI can play in re-industrialisation, service delivery, modernising government services, among others.

The Five-Year Strategy of our Department of e-Gov finds expression within GPG’s priorities as articulated in the Growing Gauteng Together, our Roadmap to 2030. As a development vision, the GGT2030 is a provincial iteration of the National Development Plan.

The NDP itself recognises that ‘South Africa’s global competitiveness needs to be improved, and the system of innovation has a key role to play. It is the principal tool for creating new knowledge, applying knowledge in production processes, and disseminating knowledge through teaching and research collaboration.’

In view of this considerations, the GPG has charged the Department of e-Governance with the mandate to modernise government services through the broadband infrastructure, connectivity and digitisation of government services to stimulate economic growth and creation of employment.

Digital transformation is rapidly changing the way our economy and society work and further dictates the way government will function in the future The GPG has therefore recognised the imperative to embrace new technologies and innovations, both in response to the evolving demands of residents and to ensure high quality, relevant and cost-effective service delivery to all the people of our province.

The key drivers and outputs of the Province is to ensure continuous digital innovation and industry stimulation by empowering youth in order to stimulate the economic growth of the province.

We consider investment in human capital Gauteng’s and by extension South Africa’s greatest opportunity. The 4^th IR gives us a rallying point of urgency and opportunity to redesign, streamline and align the education system through a co-ordinated, robust, multi-stakeholder process. Investment in our youth is the best way to claim the future.

We believe that through this approach we stand a good chance of leapfrogging the residents of Gauteng into productive work and reskilling current workers for job retention and ongoing productive work in the economy.

Modernisation is the function of leveraging scientific knowledge in order to drive national goals. It is through this act of generating cutting edge knowledge systems that society takes qualitative leaps forward.

Yet knowledge itself presupposes research and development. For us in Gauteng research and development with the aim of enhancing knowledge systems becomes all the more important given our province’s strategic location as the hub of the country’s economy.

Building capacities and capabilities enables countries and regions to innovate and stay ahead of the game in this cutthroat, globalised world. Innovation is at the heart of a country’s and region’s progression along the developmental path. Innovation finds new and more efficient ways of solving the problems faced by every part of society. And a society that does not innovate can never do more, with less.

Given that innovation plays an important role in driving future growth, the GPG is seeking to accelerate policy efforts aimed at strengthening the national innovation systems within the provincial context.

These efforts include the introduction of broad measures to improve performance in areas like R&D, education, entrepreneurial activity and knowledge flows---all of which are key determinants for innovative activity.

The Gauteng Innovation Strategy begins by explicitly recognising the importance which must be attached to socially-oriented innovations. At the same time, recognising that communities themselves are the source of innovation, as well as individuals, will provide direction as to how, why and where we should be supporting innovation. It will also help in understanding the benefits that can arise from innovation.

Through the Department of Economic Development and its agencies, Gauteng is seized with creating and facilitating interactions between universities and private sector organisations as well as establishing eco-system based approaches and relationships with national government and its agencies to ensure effective implementation of the strategy.

We look to leverage partnerships, drawing on the rich institutional expertise residing in our province in order to advance towards this all-important goal of a 4IR compliant Gauteng.

 

Programme Director;

Our most critical challenge is to build the skills base needed to drive and sustain change in the lives of our people. The ability of GPG to be part of the 4IR depends on the people of Gauteng, our most valuable resources.

We are committed to invest in our employees. The GPG ICT skills strategy aims to identify the digital skills we need to drive and sustain digital transformation and development of an effective, inclusive and exciting provincial government ecosystem that every resident of Gauteng can be proud of.

As we gather here for what is a strategic reflection on the best pathways to Science and Technology Innovation, the GPG wishes you well. Innovation requires perpetual learning to re-imagine creative ways to solve complex social problems confronting our nation today.

I am confident that out of this Summit will issue forth luminous pathways for an accelerated and much more focused National System of Innovation. The time has come for our nation to enhance the role of science, technology and innovation to catalyse a society less defined by inequality, unemployment and poverty.

Through harnessing the power of science, technology and innovation we can jump-start our economy for growth, development and inclusivity and leapfrog out nation into the 21^st century without limping through the stages first taken by developed countries.

I thank you for your kind attention as you wrestle with this critical challenge on which depends the future of our nation.