Thought Leadership Article
As we celebrate 23 years of our democracy, it is also a time to reflect on how we have done as a country to institutionalise innovation. The various milestones of our journey include the 1996 White Paper on Science and Technology through the 2002 National Research & Development Strategy; the various reviews including the 2008 OECD Review of the South African National System of Innovation (“NSI”); the 2008 Ten Year Innovation Plan as well as the establishment of the National Intellectual Property Management Office and the Technology Innovation Agency to the 2012 Ministerial Review of the Science and Innovation System.
Being an emerging economy, South Africa is recognized globally as an important player in innovation and world economy not only for projects such as the Square Kilometre Array (“SKA”) but many contributions by our researchers, entrepreneurs and established businesses to the global pool of knowledge. Twenty-one years into our democracy, the country has made significant strides that not many African countries can attest to due to its strategic socio-economic policies and government interventions that have sought to eradicate the discriminatory legacy of the previous regime. Notwithstanding the significant progress made, lest we get too comfortable, there are still inefficiencies and deficits in the development of an inclusive culture of innovation and the transformation of the NSI.
Case studies of the transformative nature of innovation are still difficult to find in the rhetoric of politicians and bureaucrats alike firstly because participation in the NSI is still limited to the privileged few, whether by race, societal or educational background. Our schooling system still places a greater emphasis on employment as an end, with little emphasis on socio-economic problem solving and identifying market opportunities that become the seed of innovation. Secondly, despite the OECD observations in 2008 of South Africa’s approach to innovation being restrictively narrow, the status quo remains and small steps have been made to broaden the approach in recognition of innovation as being important for all aspects of society as it equates to progress. Thirdly, the discourse about innovation is incomplete if it does not include entrepreneurship, intellectual property, enablers such as incubators and science parks as there is a funding gap. The announcement of the Incubation Support Programme by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) is to be welcomed in this regard. Fourthly, the institutional arrangements that we have put in place to foster innovation and ensure holistic support to entrepreneurs and researchers, who are working on cutting edge technologies and solutions, still have to fulfill their mandate. Today, we still grapple with issues such as how we stimulate innovation, how we determine what is innovation and how we measure the outputs of innovation. In order to heighten potential output growth and be worthy competitors in the global economy, it is imperative that as South Africans, we start to address innovation as a socio-economic imperative and ensure that any discourse on innovation is purposefully directed towards driving sustainable economic growth, improving the competitiveness of our firms and solving social challenges faced by our people so as to increase the quality of life for all. Lastly, we need to provide a more certain regulatory environment and incentives for creators of new knowledge.
The role of universities is a significant one as it forms part of the strong linkages amidst the players in the Triple Helix system which is made up of higher education institutions (HEI), the private sector and the government in the order to drive economic development. Special emphasis is placed in universities within national innovation systems. Universities work as suppliers of innovation and facilitators of new technology through spin off companies, licenses for these new technologies and reassigning knowledge to existing businesses. Knowledge-based economic development and transformation are conceded by universities as their contribution to development in national, regional and local innovation systems accumulates.
Lifestyle diseases, food and energy security challenges, access to clean water and education are social issues that face us today. We must mitigate these social ills primarily through innovation to deliver cost-effective and timely solutions. For every problem, there is an opportunity – we should therefore be channeling our focus towards these pressing challenges that face our society. In the past few months, we have seen an increase in strikes across the country, underscoring the importance of efficiency of service delivery and an opportunity to find innovative solutions to improve service delivery. Given government’s purchasing power, procurement and expenditure are still untapped areas for stimulating innovation. This cannot be done without enabling reforms in policies and regulatory environment so as to eliminate the various barriers faced by entrepreneurs with locally developed innovations which can assist government service delivery.
Government must take on a more proactive role to create sustainable local industries and provide an enabling environment in order to facilitate development in South Africa. It is through innovation that this can be done to ensure an effective transition of our economy towards a truly knowledge based economy that focuses on benefitting its people. In this regard, institutions such as the Technology Innovation Agency together with state-owned Enterprises, must focus on supporting demand led innovations and more particularly those that have the greatest potential to benefit our people. There is also a need to embrace the shift towards ICT and mobile based innovations. With over 49.6% of our population being under the age of 25, this group being consumers and generators of mobile content, we have an opportunity to create real opportunities that will go beyond mobile. However, we seem to be uncertain on how to assess the market opportunities in the ICT and mobile, whereas this generation of youth has the potential to turn mobile into a game changer by creating solutions and services at both consumer and enterprise levels. In supporting innovation, particularly technology ideas, failure is a default end-state. Accordingly, decision making processes must be put in place and accelerated instead to manage delivery against milestones.
Today, with better educated youth yet a high number of unemployment, South Africa is at an advantage to stimulate innovation and a culture of entrepreneurship to facilitate sustainable growth in the long term. Innovation has increasingly become vital in driving growth, employment and improving public service delivery. We also need to promote innovation in enterprises, as it has been shown in the 2008 Innovation Survey that enterprises that incorporate innovation activities are more inclined to be employment generators than those that do not. It is encouraging to note that Vision 2030, as captured in the National Development Plan (“NDP”), recognizes that “Innovation is necessary for a middle income country to develop; South Africa needs to sharpen its innovative edge and continue contributing to global scientific and technological advancement. This requires greater investment in research and development…” In addition to the investment in R&D, the NDP recognises the importance of entrepreneurs mobilizing innovative ideas for social change and commercial application. As such, for new, real jobs to be created, the Small Medium Enterprises must be supported “through better co-ordination of relevant agencies, development of finance institutions” and “an expanded skills base through better education and vocational training” to catapult South Africa into increased competitiveness and expansion of human capital.
The pace of change in the years that lie ahead, as we implement the NDP, cannot be the same as in the past 20 years. We must proceed with a sense of urgency, aggressively closing the so called ‘innovation chasm’ comprising of funding, culture and skills gaps in a holistic manner while recognizing the strengths and capabilities of each of the players in the NSI. Ten years from now, South Africa should be Africa's nucleus of entrepreneurial activity and innovation that not only addresses African problems but also have global impact. Our time has come to demystify innovation and provide real meaning to this word, as a socio-economic imperative.
In the spirit of Africa month, we have profiled some of our top entrepreneurs that have been, and some currently are, incubated at Africa’s first internationally accredited science and technology park – The Innovation Hub.