Funding key to SA's ICT development

Funding instruments and mechanisms to secure appropriate human resource capacity will remain key to achieving ICT research and development (R&D), as well as innovation objectives in SA.

So says Laurens Cloete, acting executive director at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Meraka Institute.

Last week, science and technology minister Naledi Pandor was reported by BuaNews as challenging the CSIR to be more innovative and think beyond individual projects to ensure the development of industry sectors in the country.

"The CSIR needs to redouble its efforts to play a more strategic and influential role in research and development in SA,” Pandor said.

However, Cloete says, since its establishment five years ago, the CSIR Meraka Institute has made excellent progress in terms of developing science and technology.

“This includes developing R&D capacity in key ICT domains, such as remote sensing, ICT for earth observation, human language technology, mobile computing and applications, wireless networking and so on,” says Cloete.

Describing the institute's key achievements, Cloete says the results of Meraka's research have led to innovations that are deployed in fields such as “the digital doorway”.

“For the digital doorway, we have deployed more than 200 robust kiosks to provide ICT access in the remote rural areas of SA.

“We have also deployed wireless mesh technology that enables schools connectivity and rural broadband, as well as the advanced fire information system, where we worked with Eskom to develop a world-first near real-time remote sensing application to issue fire alerts based on advanced processing of satellite imagery,” he adds.

The national cyber infrastructure, he explains, will enable new forms of scientific and industrial development by equipping South African researchers with the tools and infrastructure to collaborate across the country and with their international peers.

“In this regard, Meraka established the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), in Cape Town in 2007. This supercomputing centre now hosts the fastest computer in Africa and is listed on the top 500 fastest computers globally,” he says.

He explains that having access to advanced computing resources like the CHPC enables South African scientists to explore important challenges in the local context such as studying climate change and unlocking the country's rich natural resources through computational material science and bio-informatics.

“In parallel, the South African National Research Network (Sanren) is connecting research and higher education institutions with unprecedented bandwidth,” he says.

In regards to connectivity, he says the 10GBps national backbone and the Johannesburg Metro fibre ring that Sanren is part of has already connected a significant number of institutions and enabled them to access affordable international bandwidth through the Seacom cable.

“Furthermore, the completion of the remaining metro rings later this year will see 90 institutions connected in the first phase of the project. Subsequent phases of the project will ensure that every university, research institution and national facility is connected.

“Sanren is also key to SA's astronomy programme and the bid to host the Square Kilometer Array in particular,” says Cloete.

He explains that a good indication of the Meraka Institute's progress as a key player in ICT R&D is its international research collaboration with reputable global organisations. “Not only have we been very successful in securing European Union funding through the seventh framework programme; we have also established R&D collaboration with multinational corporations such as Google, Nokia, HP and SAP.

“We are also very proud that through collaboration with UNICEF, Meraka's digital doorway technology is now being deployed as far as Uganda and the South Pacific”.

According to Cloete, in regards to ICT skills development, the CSIR and the Meraka Institute specifically focus on the development of advanced skills in ICT to complement other initiatives focusing on issues such as e-skills.

“With advanced skills, we mean skills at masters and PhD level, which are required to strengthen SA's knowledge generating capacity”, he says.

He says the CSIR's intervention in the skills development space has been the studentship programme where an internship is offered to computer science and engineering graduates to work in one of Meraka's research groups, while pursuing a masters or PhD at one of SA's universities.

“We currently support 60 studentships and the first graduations from the programme are now coming through. Another contribution to ICT skills development is the co-supervision of more than 100 post-graduate students by Meraka researchers appointed as extraordinary professors at various universities”, says Cloete.

However, he admits, the organisation is faced with different challenges that are hindering it from reaching full potential.

“Although we have made good progress in terms of working with industry, we believe there is a lot more potential to leverage Meraka's R&D muscle for the competitiveness of our ICT industry, as the basis for new ICT start-ups and to attract investment in local R&D by multinationals”, he says.

A related challenge, he adds, is to operationalise, scale and replicate interventions, such the National Accessibility Portal, where Meraka has worked with the Department of Communications, the Presidency and disabled persons' organisations to develop technology to empower people with disabilities through access to information and communication means.

In the face of these challenges, Cloete says the institute will follow a multi-pronged approach in strengthening its collaboration with industry.

“There are various models for working with industry, ranging from collaborating on projects, such as the work Meraka and others are doing with Nokia on exploring the use of mobile phones for mathematics at high school level, to joint R&D facilities such as the SAP-Meraka Unit for Technology development where we are doing research on enabling very small enterprises through mobile solutions”, he explains.

In other cases, Cloete elaborates, the institute will perform contract R&D for industry in areas where it has specialised skills such in speech technology.

He attributes the achievements of the CSIR Meraka Institute to the sustained investments by government, as well as contributions to building the Institute by partner countries including Finland, France and South Korea.