NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO (4165)
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: (NO 4165) (INTERNAL
QUESTION PAPER NO 51-2015)
“4165. Mr WM Madisha (COPE) to ask the Minister of Science and Technology:
(a) Whether the National System of Innovation was resulting in a year-on year increase
in the respect of (a) productive research, (b) economic and professional exploitation of
knowledge in South Africa, (c) leveraging of private sector and international funding for
innovation, (d) building knowledge-generation and knowledge-exploitation capabilities
in rural and historically disadvantage higher education institutions and (e) developing
and strengthening regional and provincial innovation systems and capabilities to meet
community and industry demands; if not, why not, in each case; if so, what are the
relevant details in each case?
(NW5041E)
RESPONSE:
a)
Yes. South Africa's scientific output, measured by publications in internationally
accredited journals, increased at an average rate of 10% per year from 2003 to
2012, representing an average growth of 624 publications per year. This is
much higher than the world average, with a steady increase in the country’s
share of the world’s journal publication (from 0.49% in 2003 to 0.73% in 2012).
Several reports (Africa Innovation Outlook -2012; Global Research Report –
2010, and UNESCO Institute for Statistics Information Bulletin) confirm that
South Africa leads the continent in for example, the largest proportion of
researchers per employed population in Africa, spending on research and
development (R&D) in US dollar terms (based on purchasing power parity, and
the number of internationally recognized research outputs).
b)
Yes.
Trends from the National Intellectual Property Management Office
(NIPMO) provide indication of progress with regard to the economic and
professional exploitation of knowledge in South Africa. NIPMO has now been in
place for five years and systems are in place to collect information on invention
disclosures (in the form of patents, designs, copyrighted work, new software,
plant breeders’ rights and trademarks) arising from scientific and technological
research activities as well as formation of new enterprises and technology
transfer activities.
For example, invention disclosures arising from publicly funded R&D, statistics
collected by NIPMO indicate a growth in these activities with over 1000
disclosures having been reported to NIPMO since 2010 starting with 96
disclosures during 2010/11 financial year and increasing progressively to 252
disclosures during 2014/15. During 2015/16 disclosures are on track to exceed
the figures of 2014/15 financial year.
2
These disclosures are being tracked to
monitor whether the intellectual property is being protected in terms of a granted
patent, design, trade mark, etc. and the status of commercialisation/exploitation
of this intellectual property.
Furthermore, it is noted that since 2010 the number of granted patents being
managed by an office of technology transfer has doubled while the number of
licenses granted has almost tripled.
Over 5% of more than 1000 disclosures
have been commercialised with revenue in excess of R2,5 million accruing to
the institutions. Based on an internationally accepted 5:95 rule this means that
R47.5 million has accrued in terms of economic growth to the country as a
whole.
These are very encouraging figures considering the early days of this
piece of legislation, having only celebrated its five year anniversary in August
2015.
c)
Yes. In the 2014/15 financial year, the DST was able to secure R354 600 000 of
foreign funds from international partners through agreed science, technology
and innovation instruments for knowledge production, technology transfer,
enhance innovation, and STI human capital development.
To ensure that the DST is leveraging private sector funding for innovation, the
2015-2020 Strategic Plan now includes a specific indicator to monitor the level of
investment in research, development, and innovation (RDI) partnerships by
government and the private sector.
Nevertheless, the current low levels of
business confidence do impact on the willingness of the private sector to commit
to long-term spending on RDI. The DST is however addressing this constraint in
a number of ways. For example, the DST is utilising the R&D Tax Incentive, as
well as the Sector Innovation Funds (SIFs) as vehicles to attract private sector
investment.
3
d)
Yes. The DST has various initiatives and programmes for strengthening
knowledge generation and knowledge-exploitation capabilities of historically
disadvantaged higher education institutions. For example, in the bioeconomy
arena through the initiative of the DST a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
between Pfizer Inc. and the North-West University (NWU) was signed for the
potential use of Pfizer's genetically modified animal models for evaluations in
oncology, inflammation and immunology, as well as central nervous system and
cardiovascular system disorders. Furthermore, other initiatives which are meant
to empower the previously disadvantaged higher education institutions include
the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) indicated in the Table
below. The main goal of the Research Chairs initiative is to strengthen and
improve research and innovation capacity of public universities for producing
high quality postgraduate students and research and innovation outputs.
Table: South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI)
Research Chairs awarded
Computational Modelling of
Materials
Biodiversity Value and Change in
the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve
Nanotechnology
Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Social Change
Nuclear Engineering
Astrophysics & Space Physics
e)
Previously disadvantaged institution
University of Limpopo
University of Venda
University of Zululand
Walter Sisulu University
University of Fort Hare
North-West University
North-West University
Yes. In terms of developing and strengthening regional and provincial innovation
systems and capabilities, the DST supports the establishment of Regional
Innovation Forums (RIF) to promote the development of regional and provincial
innovation systems through the interaction of academia, industry/business,
communities and government to support Provincial Growth and Development
Strategies, Integrated Development Plans and development plans of local
municipalities. The most active RIFs currently are in the Western Cape and the
Eastern Cape and there is effort to scale up to other provinces.
Through the RIFs, the DST has supported hosting of strategy and planning
workshops that led to regional innovation interventions with regard to the
4
development of Regional/Provincial Innovation Strategies, feasibility studies and
business plans for science parks or innovation hubs such as:

the
networking,
mentorship
programme
and
innovation
strategy
workshops managed by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
(NMMU) that led to establishment of the Propella Business Incubator at
NMMU. The Propella supports technology start-ups and accelerates
existing SMMEs in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy
technology, advanced manufacturing and supply chain optimisation;

the Eastern Cape Provincial Innovation Strategy;

the Free State Feasibility study for the establishment of a Science Park;

the Science Park development in Southern Gauteng at the Vaal
University of Technology (VUT); and

support for networking and innovation forums in Western Cape.
Other areas planned for receiving DST support for RIF and Science Park development
include Kwa-Zulu Natal in support of the 4 Regional Technology Hubs that are currently
being implemented, and Science Park development in one of the Gauteng SEZs in
collaboration with the Chinese Government.
5
6