South Africa has lost out on opportunities, because the country's national system of innovation is not operating “optimally”, says science and technology minister Naledi Pandor.
Pandor, addressing the second annual conference of the South African Technology Network, in Belville, yesterday said, although the system of innovation has evolved over the past five years, more co-operation is required for SA to benefit from the talent pool.
“SA's innovation system has a substantial repository of local knowledge, which could have a more sustained impact on the real economy,” she said.
However, “due to various impediments to productivity and technological innovation, such progress has been inadequate”. Unless a greater interest is taken in getting ideas to production and then selling them commercially, SA will not benefit from ideas, she said.
Pandor cited a lack of start-up finance and a “relatively weak and uncoordinated intellectual property rights management framework” as drawbacks to progress in innovation.
As a result, she said, a number of valuable technologies developed locally have been lost to the world. One example is the locally developed lithium-battery technology that is used in the electric vehicle, which SA lost to the US two decades ago.
“Also, as recently as two years ago, we lost our thin-film solar-cell technology to Germany,” Pandor lamented.
Where to now?
Pandor said there are several areas of policy that require attention. She called on tertiary institutions to take advantage of systems that have been put in place by government to grow SA's ability to innovate.
A priority area is to increase the number of skilled researchers and technologists, she added. Science councils, such as the National Research Foundation, should have planning discussions with universities to develop the required talent.
In addition, universities of technology must develop research niches and train higher levels of qualified technologists, she noted. Funding has been set aside to increase research capabilities at tertiary level.
Government has implemented agencies that can support technological innovation.
Pandor said the new Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) will support and promote innovation. “The TIA is part of our effort to address the challenges presented by the 'innovation chasm' or the gap between the local knowledge base and the productive economy.”
The Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act of 2008 provides for better use of ideas that come from publicly-financed research and development, she explained.
It also establishes the National Intellectual Property Management Office, which will establish offices of technology transfer in higher education institutions. These offices will have to be staffed by people with expertise in intellectual property protection, commercialisation and entrepreneurship, she said.
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