SA`s Da Vinci Institute and the Belarusian Republican Centre for Technology Transfer signed an agreement this week to share knowledge between the two countries.
Da Vinci, which runs the Department of Science and Technology-mandated Technology Top 100 (TT100) awards, and the Belarusian firm hope this will foster trade between the countries.
Dr Alexander Uspenskiy, a director of the technology centre, says the main driver behind the centre, created in 2003, is to realise value from the country`s innovations.
He says the US, for example, spends about $90 billion on research and development annually, and 40% of innovations created get to market. Belarus sees 10% of its research make it to market.
The centre will now be in a position to source technological solutions for South African projects. Belarus has about 1 000 publicly funded technology projects running a year.
The centre is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that enjoys the support of the Belarusian government.
TT100 GM Stephan Lamprecht says the countries would be able to tap into innovation created by each other. He hopes this will have the effect of unlocking innovation for commercial purposes.
The agreement formalises a discussion that started last year and will be followed up with discussion on how to make the agreement practically applicable.
Lamprecht is also hopeful the agreement will foster skills transfer between the countries. Belarus does not have any natural resources and, as such, is a knowledge-based economy.
To meet government`s proposed research and development spend of 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) - or economic output - SA will require between 8 000 and 12 000 skilled professionals in the next two to three years.
As GDP is a growing target, this will see the research and development budget grow to beyond R12 billion to about R16 billion in the next three years.
Lamprecht argues that about 30% to 40% will go into capital and operational expenditure, while the rest will be spent on staff. Even if half is spent on salaries, this would amount to an extra R2 billion a year over three years, he says.
Assuming an average salary of R300 000 a year, which he says is excessive, an extra 6 500 people a year is a conservative estimate.
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