THE EVENT
The South African Department of Science and Technology (DST), National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO), Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA), and the Centre for Science, Technology & Innovation Indicators (CeSTII) at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) are pleased to extend this invitation to you to participate in the launch of two new national survey reports:
• South African National Survey on Research and Experimental Development for 2014/15; and,
• South African National Survey of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer at Publicly
Funded Research Institutions: Inaugural Baseline Study (2008-2014).
The event will comprise a media briefing by the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Mrs Naledi Pandor, who will formally launch the survey reports. The launch will be followed by a policy roundtable with key stakeholders, including government, the private sector, higher education institutions, science councils, research community and the media, to share perspectives on trends observed in the reports and to give consideration to the key questions set out below.
CONTEXT & KEY QUESTIONS
The DST actively promotes the contribution of science, technology and innovation to inclusive social and economic development in South Africa. Inspired by the National Development Plan, the strategic focus of current DST programmes is on intensifying R&D spending, expanding innovation capacity by developing human capital and building research infrastructure and institutions, and greater commercialisation or usage of research findings to support industrialisation. This should lay the foundation for more intense productivity improvement and the pursuit of a knowledge economy (DST Strategic Plan for the Fiscal Years 2015-2020:6).
It is timely to begin to reflect on the trends in R&D investment in South Africa, as well as ways of promoting the usage of the outputs of R&D for enhanced economic growth and to address the many social challenges our country faces. Key questions include:
• How are businesses, higher education institutions, science councils, government departments, NGOs and international partners contributing to R&D investment in South Africa and what are the trends in this regard over time?
• In what ways have we expanded the research capacity, including the human capital base, across the National System of Innovation (NSI)?
• Is there evidence that we have we grown the institutions and mechanisms for intellectual property management and technology transfer?
• How much of the R&D investment is geared towards promoting government priority areas such as the bio-economy, green economy, and socioeconomic outcomes on health and well-being, new industrial development, economic diversification, etc.?
• Have we increased the scale of commercialisation of intellectual property from public funding across the NSI?
• Are there any policy implications revealed in the results of these two surveys?
REGISTRATION
Please use the Eventbrite hyperlink below to submit your RSVP and to receive your ticket.
Places are limited. Register today to secure your place.
CONTACTS
• Media Enquiries: Taslima Viljoen, Department of Science and Tehnology| taslima.viljoen@dst.gov.za | +27 12 843 6802
• Planning and Logistics Enquiries: Gerard Ralphs, Centre for Science, Technology & Innovation Indicators | gralphs@hsrc.ac.za | + 27 12 422 3344 / + 27 72 148 2036