News in brief

Professor Judith Bishop received the 2008 Computer Society of South Africa Fellowship Award (CSSA), an award made in recognition of achievement and a long-term commitment to the objectives of the Society. Having joined the Society in 1974, Prof Bishop is one of the longest-standing members of the Society.

She has represented the Society internationally, having been elected chair of the International Federation of Information Processing's (IFIP) working group on Software Implementation Technology for two terms and also serving as programme co-chair of the IFIP World Computer Congress held in Milan in September.

This report was prepared by the NACI Indicators Reference Group (IRG) and the NACI Secretariat.

The South African Science and Technology Indicators 2008, recently published by the NACI Indicator Reference Group provides an overall picture of South Africa's national system of innovation by presenting statistical data relating to trends and performance

NACI presented its Annual Report 2007/08 to Minister Mangena on 30 October 2008. In addition to the usual reporting on NACI's work program, it provides information on the advice NACI developed on The Physical Infrastructure for the Teaching of Science in Secondary Schools, on Human Capital and the State of the Science and Technology Knowledge Base, and on Regional and Local Innovation Systems. The section devoted to indicators and accompanying high-level assessment serves as a follow-up to the NACI Background Report to the OECD Country Review and can be used as a monitoring tool of the national system of innovation.

The 2008 International Innovations Silver Award was presented to Ms Zane Wilson, Founder of the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) and Ms Thuli Radebe, Executive Director of the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) and NACI Councillor.

The CPSI is part of the Ministry for Public Service and Administration, and responsible for the development of innovative, sustainable and responsive models for improved service delivery in the public sector. The CPSI supports South African innovations to enter this biennial initiative. Four South African innovations reached the semi-finalist stage.

Ms Rudzani Maila joined the NACI Secretariat in October 2008 as a Specialist: Innovation Policy Analysis. Her responsibilities will include the identification of innovation priorities, evaluation of relevant information and conversion into policy advice.

Prior to joining NACI, Rudzani worked for the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa (CEEPA), Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), and the Council on Higher Education (CHE), where the bulk of her work centered around the management of research projects aimed at policy advice and also stakeholder relations. She holds a BSc (Microbiology, Biochemistry, Botany) from the University of Venda, BSc (Medical) (Honours) in Microbiology from MEDUNSA and an MSc (Microbiology) from the University of Pretoria. Her MSc degree yielded a patent and co-authorship of two chapters in a microbiology textbook.

Ms Nicci Earle-Malleson attended the OECD workshop "Enhancing Research Performance through Priority Setting" in Paris, France on 15-16 September 2008. Outside of the generally valuable information contained in the range of presentations at the workshop, additional lessons for direct application to the work undertaken by NACI were also extracted.

Members of the NACI Secretariat and the Directorate for National Research, Science, Technology and Innovation from the Namibian Ministry of Education exchanged ideas on innovation policy, the relevance of OECD surveys for Research and Development and Innovation and various models for the optimal functioning of advisory bodies, funding agencies and public awareness agencies during an informal meeting arranged by the DST Multilateral and Africa Cooperation sub-programme on 16 September 2008.

The first National Biotechnology Expert Workshop took place 31 July 2008 at the CSIR Convention Centre, Pretoria. This event was arranged as part of the 2008 activities of the National Biotechnology Advisory Committee (NBAC), whose mandate is to provide the Minister of Science and Technology, though NACI, with advice pertaining to the biotechnology sector. Due to the success of this workshop, NBAC is planning on making this an annual event that will give stakeholders from across the sector the opportunity to interact with each other and with the committee on forefront developments and debates impacting on the growth of biotechnology in South Africa.

NACI had the pleasure of hosting a dinner meeting on 29 July, during which Dr Arvid Hallén, Director General of the Research Council of Norway, gave a presentation on the evolution of the Norwegian research and innovation system as well as on some of the challenges faced in increasing public expenditure on research. The Research Council of Norway, which incorporates all the previous discipline specific science councils, is the main advisory body to the Norwegian government.

Dr Hallén discussed the "Norwegian paradox": high welfare and good economic results despite a relatively low R&D intensity compared to other Nordic countries. He questioned the ability of Frascati based indicators to fully reflect the performance of innovation systems in all countries. An important driver for economic performance in Norway, he said, is its high level of labour productivity.

The Norwegian economic success can be attributed to societal arrangements built over many years – a high degree of societal confidence, trust and social security were mentioned. Dr Hallén emphasised the critical and foundational role of education in developing a knowledge-based economy

1. The impact of the South African public understanding of biotechnology
2. The funding environment of South African biotechnology
3. Biotechnology capacity: comparative case studies