In terms of their intended purpose, South Africa has “beautiful” policies but there is no coordinated effort for impact.
This is according to Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) chairperson Loyiso Tyira, commenting on hindrances in SA’s innovation system and the need for better collaboration between the engines of skills development and innovation.
Tyira was speaking at roundtable engagement hosted by the TIA on Friday, with various Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) in attendance.
He said the innovation journey won’t move forward unless there is actionable change. For SA, which has key innovation policies in place, coordination for impact is limited.
“Different government [entities/departments] work as siloes. Even if they claim they don’t, they do. We fail to look at systems because things work in systems. Innovation will work in an ecosystem and so will skills development for job creation,” he stated.
“By working as siloes, we then have a lot of wastage, and we also don’t have the impact that is envisaged by the policies that we make.”
South Africa’s policies, including those governing the country’s ICT sector, have recently come into sharp focus.
In the case of ICT laws, some industry heavyweights have said policies need to be fundamentally changed, to respond to the current social, economic and technological evolution unfolding in the country.
The TIA is an entity of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, with a mandate to invest in and support innovators, entrepreneurs and SMEs to commercialise their technology innovations. The agency also has programmes that provide non-financial support to innovators and small, medium and micro enterprises.
With a new board, the agency has established a TIA 2.0 strategy that includes aligning SA’s innovation and skills development agendas to address challenges such as unemployment, youth inclusion and economic transformation, it was revealed at the roundtable.
Tyira explained that this is why gathering with the SETAs is a key pillar in the innovation roadmap.
Usable innovation
Among SA’s many challenges is a high unemployment rate, he stated. As a result, there has been lots of discussion about the skills mismatch, in terms of industry expectations and what the country is producing.
South Africa’s unemployment data shows youth joblessness remains one of the country’s most pressing challenges. The extent and scale of youth unemployment continues to trend negatively.
Statistics SA indicates the youth unemployment rate increased from 44.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024, to 46.1% in the first quarter of 2025.
Tyira referred to “underleveraged innovation”, stating that before arriving at the TIA, he was under the impression that the country was not innovating.
“If you go to the CSIR, for example, the amount of innovation that happens there and sits as IP [intellectual property] that never goes to commercialisation is enormous.
“The amount of work that the TIA has done…shows there is no lack of capacity to innovate in the country. There is a lot of innovation happening. It is underleveraged innovation because it is not commercialised sufficiently to have an impact on job creation and economic growth.
“The Skills Development Act gives the SETAs a mandate to equip the workforce with skills needed by industry. The TIA’s mandate is to bridge the gap from research and innovation, to commercialisation.
“In the implementation of the TIA 2.0 strategy, we will engage industry partners and sectors to get feedback and incorporate it in our own strategy.”
According to Tyira, the current geopolitics call for increased capacity to export, which can only be done if innovations are commercialised.
“For us, SETAs and the TIA should be natural partners because our role is serving the industry to create jobs and grow the economy. SETAs also have a lot of sector-level intelligence because they are directly linked to sectors, so the work that we need to do in our innovation ecosystem will have to link directly with the sectors.
“The SETA sector skills plan can easily be aligned with the innovation roadmap, whereby we look at how to capacitate our country by making sure we drive skills programmes directly linked to innovation roadmaps for economic growth.”
He added there is a huge drive for technology diplomacy, explaining that countries not sovereign in technology development face dire consequences.
“That sovereign tech development starts with a skills base. China can do what it does because the size and type of skills it has are such that they are able to innovate and commercialise at scale.
“This partnership [between the TIA and SETAs] will set the tone for the type of skills base that we can create. We need to be deliberate as a country, as government…be coordinated for impact in the things that we do.”
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