Your Excellencies, the Ambassadors and High Commissioners present, Vice Chancellors and Academics present, Representatives from international and local companies and institutions that are exhibiting, Representatives from Industry, the TT100 and EFA200 companies, Government Departments, Science Councils and State-owned Enterprises, Students, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, and my very special guests, the Learners present here this morning
I welcome you all to South Africa's 2004 International Science, Innovation and Technology Exhibition (INSITE) that will be running for the next three days from 1-3 November 2004. The exhibition showcases ideas, innovations, products, technologies, services and solutions that will drive South Africa and the rest of the world forward into the future.
But the exhibition is more than just a showcase. Several important objectives underpin this ambitious initiative. Among others, we would like to:
Create an international marketplace for innovation, science and technology (IST) in the context of long-term sustainability;
Place a focus on IST solutions for the developing world;
Promote IST partnerships for global sustainable development;
Provide networking opportunities within the industry; and
Enable IST experts from across the globe to identify joint activities and initiatives.
Above all, we want to use this exhibition to stimulate interest among our own citizens, and to attract the youth, women and blacks to follow professions in science, engineering and technology. Both Ministries of Science and Technology, and Education are not satisfied with the number of high school children taking and passing mathematics and science well to provide an adequate supply of new tertiary students in these crucial fields.
Together with the Department of Education, my department has entered into a partnership to synergise our efforts to encourage more learners, identify and nurture talent and potential in these gateway subjects. My department has developed a national network of science centres as an infrastructure for delivering out-of-school programmes, and to bring science closer to communities, and especially support curriculum development in mathematics and science at disadvantaged schools. And through our youth into science strategy, we intend to promote science literacy, enhance learner participation and performance, and provide quality career education.
The girls from Iona Convent present among us today are expected to become ambassadors for mathematics, science and technology education to their peers and communities. They also represent all our learners and youth, those that will not make it here and those who will be visiting this exhibition. Through this exhibition we hope to inspire our young people to emulate and better what they will be seeing.
INSITE is an integral part of South Africa's 10 years of democracy celebrations. This 3-day event is a local exhibition with global scope. Its theme revolves around sustainable development, innovation, science and technology, and the challenges ahead.
Our Research and Development capacity is growing very slowly. The 2002 National R&D Survey revealed an increase in R&D spending, as percentage of GDP from, 0,69 % in 1997 to 0,76 % in 2001. We still have a long way to go before we can reach our intermediate target of 1 % of GDP spend on R&D, which is a target many developing countries have committed to.
There is a need to re-direct South Africa's R&D from its pre-1994 focus on military technologies towards new missions to improve our national economic competitiveness and quality of life. Among others, we expect this exhibition to provide further opportunities for collaborative efforts between our researchers and their international counterparts.
It is in our interest to find technological innovations that would address some of our pressing problems such as housing and energy shortages. As a country we are hard-pressed to find affordable but durable building materials in the place of bricks and mortar, and develop a sustainable supply of cheaper and safer alternative forms of energy for many of our low-income families.
Science and technology is among the most powerful tools for addressing sustainable development. Therefore, it is imperative for Government to assume a leading role in creating an environment in which innovation and advances in science and technology are systematically absorbed into the culture of our people. We have an obligation to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place to facilitate the use of science and technology in the development of our country.
The R&D investments are done through a fruitful marriage between industry and public sector. Our industry's share of the total R&D expenditure exceeds 50 %. Technology-based companies in South Africa today are striving for leadership in their special fields of technology and product quality for global markets. These are companies establishing offices and production units abroad.
The competitiveness of a country today depends on its capability to create innovations that are based on science and technology, and on its industry's ability to turn them into products and services for the world market. It is only through a competitive economic strategy that we can ensure the relevance of South Africa in the African and international community. Therefore, South African industry has to invest in technology, research and development, quality of product and operations, and in worldwide marketing.
To be successful, it is clear that we have to be an active participant in the global intersite2016 of technology and expertise. The scientific community has been amongst the first to foster international cooperation. Students and scientists today continue the tradition set by early scholars in their search for new knowledge. The management of this deep social and industrial site2016 requires increasing international cooperation.
To meet the challenge of technological development, the Department of Science and Technology has put together this exhibition as a review of the past, the representation of our present reality, and the encouragement of future technological collaboration.
Discover and explore all the latest products, technologies, ideas, innovations and scientific developments by visiting the South African stand, together with those of Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, USA (represented by Monsato and Rohm and Haas), Lesotho, China, France, Iran Botswana, Japan and Brazil, which are showcasing their latest advances here today.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to all individuals, enterprises and institutes who have contributed to INSITE 2004. We feel truly honoured by the international scientific and industrial community's cooperation and contribution in the search for new horizons and improved technologies.
I therefore declare the International Science, Innovation and Technology Exhibition (INSITE) officially open.
I thank you.
