Programme Director;
DSI Director-General, Dr Phil Mjwara;
All DDG’s present;
NACI Council;
Mr. Anthony Costa, the Presidency Investment Lead;
Mr. Martin Kingston, the chairperson of Business for South Africa;
CEOs and senior representatives of business;
CEO from DSI Entities and other government entities;
Distinguished guests;
Members of the media;
Ladies and gentlemen
Good evening
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this dinner here in Johannesburg.
We are pleased and humbled that you have responded to our call to participate in this dinner.
As representatives of the domestic and international investment community, as representatives of business organisations and international financial institutions, by your presence here, you have chosen to walk with us along the path of growth, employment and shared prosperity.
Like us, you believe that there is vast potential in South Africa; and that it has enormous potential that has been constrained for decades by narrow prejudice and debilitating human neglect.
Like us, you believe that South Africa is a land of opportunity – a land where the soil is rich and the oceans teem with life, where the beautiful vistas of our country are spectacular and its diverse people are vibrant and resilient.
Like us, you believe that South Africa is a land of opportunity – a land where the soil is rich and the oceans teem with life, where the beautiful vistas of our country are spectacular and its diverse people are vibrant and resilient.
This dinner also takes place a day after our celebration of the Women’s Day under the theme: “Women’s Socio-Economic Rights and Empowerment: Building Back Better for Women’s Improved Resilience”.
I am very thankful to you for making your precious time available for us and I look forward to our discussions on the exciting opportunities for investment in South African science, technology and innovation.
We are all aware that across the globe, government and industry are increasingly working together to address the complex socio-economic challenges facing humanity.
Indeed, two years after the Covid-19 pandemic decimated communities across the world, governments and business leaders are increasingly pooling their skills and financial resources to rebuild their economies.
In South Africa, our President, Cyril Ramaphosa has announced South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), as an extraordinary measures introduced to restore our economy to inclusive growth following the devastation caused by COVID-19 to our people’s lives and our country’s economy.
This is a plan through which all of us as South Africans should work together to build a new economy.
The objectives of the plan are clear:
To create jobs, primarily through aggressive infrastructure investment and mass employment programmes;
To reindustrialise our economy, focusing on growing small businesses;
To accelerate economic reforms to unlock investment and growth;
To fight crime and corruption; and
To improve the capability of the state.
I must indicate that all these objectives are linked to the vision of our country set out in the National Development Plan.
Programme Director
South Africa, has to respond to a number of challenges which include the after effect of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The other crises are multiple economic and social reproduction challenges. This economic crisis is illustrated by the persistent high levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality that affect the working-class, while the social reproduction crisis is illustrated by the associated inability of the affected working-class households to support their lives.
One manifestation of the multiple crises of social reproduction is that of gender-based violence and the subordinate position of women in society generally.
The interrelated crises of unemployment, poverty, inequality, and social reproduction also manifest in high incidents of criminality and different forms of violence afflicting many of our communities.
The need for government and industry to cooperate in addressing these challenges has found expression in a number of high-profile initiatives such as the National Business Initiative and the South African Investment Conferences that are convened by the President annually, the most recent of which took place in April this year - when I had the pleasure of meeting some of you to discuss how we can work together to advance the excellent work our scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs are doing in sectors such as health, energy and mining.
DSI investment in Science and Innovation
From our government perspective, we have been investing in science, technology and innovation over many decades.
We have done so in the knowledge that science and innovation are critical to building the competitiveness of South African industries, and to the achievement of economic growth and development.
In 2022 Cabinet adopted our new Decadal, or ten year Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation.
Although prepared by my Department, it is not only a plan for the Department of Science and Innovation, or for Government alone, but for all of South Africa.
Through a number of policy, governance and funding interventions, the Plan seeks to enhance our national consensus, coordination and cooperation, including through enhanced Public-Private Partnerships, to put science, technology and innovation at the heart of South Africa’s growth and development agenda.
This new national commitment to work together will be embodied in an Innovation and Skills Compact, to be adopted by government, business, civil society, science and academic leaders at our Science, Technology and Innovation Plenary Meeting, to be chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Compact will notably include commitments to undertake amongst other measures a regulatory reform to create a more enabling policy environment for innovation in South Africa; and forge a closer collaboration between higher education and training bodies, and employers, to ensure that skills development better corresponds to the needs of our economy.
Funding including increased investment by business in Research & Development (R&D) and the better coordination between different ministries of our Government funding of R&D will be another important part of the Compact – as will be a commitment to use public procurement to support innovation and entrepreneurship.
Our plan does not identify priorities scientific disciplines or technology platforms in their own right, but instead focus on the collective and holistic response of South African science and innovation in a trans- and multi-disciplinary manner on key societal challenges confronting South Africa.
This approach also foresees a central role to be played by social sciences and humanities, which remains a priority investment area.
Our commitment to support the long-term well-being of South African science, including through investment in the basic sciences, also remains strong as evidenced by our continued significant investment in astronomy as part of South Africa’s hosting of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope.
I must indicate that part of our commitment is to support the procurement of locally developed technologies through the Technology Acquisition and Deployment Fund (TADF).
We are prioritising initiatives for inclusive development and intellectual property exploitation in ICT, renewable energy and the circular economy.
Equally, we have developed mechanisms to support entrepreneurs by facilitating the commercialisation of grassroots innovation and access to publicly available intellectual property.
To further illustrate the opportunities available in South Africa and Africa in general Research by Nanyang Technological University's Centre for African Studies show that key lithium-ion batteries' minerals are available in “ample quantities” in South Africa (manganese, nickel and platinum), Democratic Republic of Congo (cobalt), Zimbabwe (lithium), Mozambique (graphite) and Zambia (copper). This is major area of investment which I would want all of you as investors to consider.
Last week, on the side-lines of our 2023 BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation Ministerial Meeting, held on the 04th August 2023, in Gqeberha, we held the BRICS Young Scientist Forum which provided invaluable intellectual input for the implementation of the Decadal Plan with discussions focused on some of the societal challenges prioritised in the Plan, such as climate change and environmental sustainability, the future of education, and the role of technology in shaping the future of society.
These young scientists discussed priority themes of the Plan such as the unlocking of new sources of economic growth and increasing the competitiveness of our industries.
We have committed ourselves to support these innovations as a country and through the BRICS mechanism as well.
Calling for private partnership
Ladies and gentlemen
Government can create an enabling environment and take steps to help reduce the risks inherent in innovation and entrepreneurship. However, for maximum impact, government needs to partner with industry.
As I have indicated earlier, booth my Departments of Science and Innovation and that of Higher Education and Training have been focusing on how government can facilitate increased investment in R&D through public-private partnerships to improve the commercialization of locally developed technologies and innovations.
There are some exciting early successes and there is a lot of potential in the South African STI system to build on these successes.
The Director-General will go into more detail, but allow me to illustrate what I mean:
For every R1 invested by government in the South African Innovation Fund, which was piloted in 2021, the fund has thus far succeeded in leveraging R6 from the private sector in roughly 60% of the completed investment deals to date. One of the SMEs that received funding has now concluded an 80% equity deal with Mediclinic South Africa, one of South Africa’s top private health care providers. Because of these kinds of successes, the National Treasury has now made a further R1.5bn available for the Innovation Fund – the opportunity now exists for the private sector to help grow that R1.5bn to R4.5bn.
Another example I want to share with you is the vast potential for building on government’s STI investments in South Africa’s green Hydrogen Energy sector. Modelling shows that domestic use of hydrogen energy, coupled with a portfolio of related exports (including fuel cells and green jet fuel) can potentially lead to an 11.4% increase in GDP and create 1.36 million technical jobs for the entire economy by 2050.
To further drive home my point: South Africa spends around R13.2bn per tender cycle on vaccines. The market for local vaccine manufacturing is therefore very attractive (e.g. vaccines for Hepatitis B, Human Papilloma Virus, and Tuberculosis) and has the potential to decrease public spend on these vaccines by 25%. Our government has invested significantly in vaccine manufacturing and has recently leveraged R800 million from the German government for this initiative.
These are but few of the examples I wanted to share with you this event to illustrate the vast opportunities that our STI sector can provide to the South Africa business industry. These off-course will be achievable through the public- private sector partnerships.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to assure you all, particularly those who have not as yet done business in the STI environment that the South African science and innovation market is globally competitive and sought after and respected by many in the world.
To illustrate, the South African STI system punches far above its weight in global rankings. For instance, in 2019 South Africa ranked 32nd in the world for highly cited articles.
In extending this invitation to South African industry to partner with us in developing our science and innovation system into the engine for inclusive economic growth and development that it can be, I acknowledge the support we have already received from South African companies.
Even under trying economic conditions such as those caused by the pandemic and the war in Europe, the South African industry has continued to invest in R&D – even if it has been at a reduced rate over the recent past.
I believe that this shows confidence in the South African national system of innovation, and also in the future of South Africa at a difficult time for our country.
With your support, with your investment, we can realise more growth, offer more opportunities and create even more jobs.
I am thankful for your trust and cooperation, and I am looking forward for our cooperation in taking the South African science and innovation sector to the greater heights– to benefit not only the industries and companies you represent, but also to the citizens of South Africa.
I look forward our deliberations today and to the investment pledges.
Thank you.
