The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has failed to meet targets for its ICT projects, saying investments in research and development (R&D) have decreased.
The department's medium-term budget statement, released by the National Treasury yesterday, reveals it has fallen significantly short of its mid-term targets. The DTI says that, despite its poor performance, it will meet targets by the end of the financial year.
The DTI, which has also decreased funding for innovation programmes, attributes it performance to a decline in the number of business plans it has received and approved. It also notes that business partners, particularly in the industrial sector, have reallocated R&D budgets.
The department's technology development division only funded 233 new projects, falling short of its target of 330. Student training has also fallen short, as only 1 794 of the targeted 2 500 trainees have gone through its skills programme. However, targets for the number of researchers for the unit have increased. A total of 793 new researchers were supported through the division, an increase from the targeted 750.
The DTI states that, despite an increased interest from global companies, its business process outsourcing (BPO) programme has failed to achieve some of its targets. Only four companies were assisted with BPO, falling short of the targeted 12 companies.
An additional R80 000 has been allocated to BPO programmes for the remainder of the financial year. The department has spent over R2 billion since 2006, when Cabinet approved the adoption of BPO as key industry to accelerate local economic growth. The DTI aimed to make SA the world's third-biggest BPO centre, after India and the Philippines, by 2008.
Trade and industry minister Rob Davies recently stated the DTI would accelerate its focus on services to attract foreign investors and aim to reach productivity and employment targets through the BPO initiatives.
The budget increase and employment growth can be attributed to “greater interest from larger global companies”, the budget states.
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