His Excellency, Professor Gaspard Banyankimbona, Commissioner, Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation, African Union Commission;
His Excellency, Mr Nardos Thomas Bekele, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD;
Honourable, Dr. Bright Msaka, Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Malawi and Chair of the Specialised Technical Committee on Education Science Technology and Innovation;
His Excellency, Dr Belete Molla, Minister of Innovation and Technology, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:
On behalf of the government of South Africa, I would like to congratulate the African Union Commission and AUDA-NEPAD for achieving this important milestone of launching the Implementation Plan of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2034).
Placing science, technology and innovation at the centre of Africa’s development
The launch of this Plan is significant in a number of respects. Firstly, there is general consensus that over the past five decades or so, the African continent has made significant progress in some respects, and in some, our continent has regressed and we must acknowledge this fact.
The net effect of this has been a continent that continues to perform way far below its actual economic potential and as a result, we have lost a number of unique opportunities to develop critical economic and scientific capacity on the continent and because of this, we have been unable to improve the quality of life for the majority of the people on our continent, especially our youth.
Related to this has been the persistence of the phenomenon where critical aspects of Africa’s development are highly dependent on external funding. Partnerships with countries or bodies from outside the African continent will remain an important part of Africa’s development and growth.
However, the task that we as Africa’s policy makers have is to ensure that these partnerships are equitable. It is therefore my firm believe that, if we are to change Africa’s development trajectory and its relationship with the rest of the world, in a meaningful way, over next 10 to 20 years, one of the things that all African governments need to do as a matter of top priority is to place science, technology and innovation at the centre of all national development initiatives.
If we fail to do this, in the near future, we are like to relive the embarrassment we experienced at the height of the global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the lives of millions of Africans were dependent on vaccines that had to be procured from outside the African continent.
South Africa’s efforts to support the implementation of STISA 2034
Secondly, the priorities of STISA 2034 align perfectly with the priorities of South Africa’s Decadal Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (2022-2032) and for this reason, South Africa remains committed to ensuring the realisation of the goals of STISA 2034.
As indicated in the review of STISA 2024, we need to strengthen efforts to increase our investments in research and development in the continent. The cost of financing STISA currently stands at $6.8 billion.
Even though we welcome the commitment made by our partners in pledging to invest 50 million Canadian dollars in supporting the implementation of STISA 2034; I call on us as AU Member States especially my fellow Ministers; let us invest in progarmmes and interventions to support the implementation of STISA 2034.
This will ensure sustainability and benefit for our continent, and this is why I have tasked our country’s National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) with the support of the African Union to help us map the opportunity of establishing a Pan African Research, Development and Innovation Fund/Foundation (ARDIF).
This area of work will supplement and inform ongoing efforts by the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to create the African Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Fund (AESTI) as well as other continental funding mechanisms for research and Innovation. I look forward to receiving this important report as it will guide us on how to take ownership of our research agenda and priorities in the continent.
Further more, South Africa through the National System of Innovation (NSI) supports various pan-African STI initiatives as well as the AU-NEPAD Flagship programmes in areas such as biosciences, mathematical sciences, laser and water. These Flagship programmes will serve as implementation instruments for STISA 2034.
My Department will coordinate inputs from the NSI to outline South Africa’s contribution to STISA 2034 so that when it comes to reporting time, we will be ready to share with the AU on how as a Member State how we have domesticated STISA and are supporting its implementation.
I am also happy to announce that through our National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa will be investing R50 million over five years under phase three of the new Science Granting Council Initiative (SGCI-3).
This is one of the interventions that we will implement to support the implementation of STISA 2034 and as the interim chair of SADC, South Africa will also work with the SADC Secretariat on coordinating regional STI initiatives to support the implementation of STISA 2034.
Developing a sovereign research agenda for Africa
Lastly, we must also see the launch of this implementation Plan as a unique opportunity for us to intensify the effort to steer the African continent towards developing what we refer to as a sovereign research agenda for Africa.
By this we mean a research agenda that is designed, funded and driven by Africans. Therefore, over the next decade, as leaders of the African continent, we need to intensify our efforts to extricate Africa from the grip of underdevelopment, political instability and an uncertain future. I am more than confident that STISA 2034 can become a potent catalyst for placing Africa on a fundamentally new development path.
Thank you.
