News in brief

The NACI Secretariat met on 12 to 13 November 2009 for strategic planning and teambuilding. Dikhololo was the perfect environment to rethink and prioritise strategic focus areas and to develop some action planning in order to give effect to the mission of being a strong, efficient and effective Secretariat to NACI. The bushveld braai and early morning game drive brought fun and lots of laughter - much needed in the structured world of SWOTs, PESTELs and scorecards.

The National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) held an expert workshop on Measuring and Monitoring Innovation in South Africa on 22 October 2009 at STIAS in Stellenbosch. The overarching objective of the NACI workshop was to contribute to the development of indicators that could be used to track broad-based innovation in South Africa. It was also envisaged that the outcome of the workshop would contribute towards raising the awareness of the general public regarding the significance of innovation.

The workshop brought together a number of local and international experts on science, technology and innovation measurement in a developing and developed country context. These experts included: Prof Sunil Mani (Professor in Development Economics, Centre for Development Studies, Prasanth Nagar, India), Mr Stanley Ntakumba (The Presidency), Dr Jo Lorentzen (HSRC), Dr Taorai Imbayarwo (African Science Trackers, University of Stellenbosch), Mr William Blankley (HSRC), Prof Johann Mouton (Centre for Research in Science and Technology, University of Stellenbosch), Prof Anastassios Pouris (Institute for Technological Innovation, University of Pretoria), Dr Thomas Pogue (Institute for Economic Research on Innovation, Tshwane University of Technology) and Dr Saartjie Grobbelaar (Frost & Sullivan). They presented papers which covered the following broad issues:

• Current international best practice in measuring innovation in developing countries
• Evaluation of current measurement of science, technology and innovation in South Africa. Indicators best suited to track innovation in South Africa.
• Advantages and disadvantages of an "innovation index/scoreboard"

More than 40 workshop participants were drawn from government departments, science councils, universities, research based institutions and industry, business sector, development agencies as well as community based organisations.

Dr Camille Limoges, former Deputy Minister of Research, Science and Technology for Quebec, Canada presented a paper entitled " Challenges facing the Canadian innovation system in the context of the global financial crisis" at a NACI lunch seminar held on 10 September 2009 at the Department of Science and Technology. Dr Limoges is currently a member emeritus at the Interuniversity Research Centre for Science and Technology (CIRST), Universit'e du Qu'ebec in Montr'eal, Canada. The seminar was attended by NRF staff, DST officials, the members of the NACI Secretariat, and other key stakeholders.

A booklet, Facing the facts 2009 was launched by the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor on Tuesday 25 August 2009 in Parliament. The updated booklet is an important contribution to the Department of Science and Technology's efforts to mainstream women in the SET sector.

The updated Facing the Facts is based on a study commissioned by the Science, Engineering and Technology for Women (SET4W) committee, one of the sub-committees of the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) established to advise the Ministry of Science and Technology on how to achieve gender equity in the sector. The study shows some progress in the numbers of women participating in the country's Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) sectors between 2000 and 2005. It follows on a similar study done in 2004, and provides key highlights of the trends regarding the numbers of women participating in the SET sectors.

The study was developed from the 2008 Monitoring and Evaluation Framework intended to benchmark the participation of women in SET within the National System of Innovation (NSI). It was populated for the first time in 2008 with the available data from 2000 to 2005.

Though suggesting some marked improvements, Facing the Facts 2009 also documents challenges within various areas of SET during the past half decade as improvements were clearly evident at lower levels.

For a copy of this publication and more detailed information, please contact:
Ms Rudzani Maila

• Tel: +27 (0)12 843 6520
• Rudzani.maila@dst.gov.za

The newly established sub-committee of the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), Innovation for Development (INNO4DEV), held its very first meeting (mini workshop) on 03 July 2009 at the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The purpose of the meeting was to distil from discussions short actions that could be implemented by INNO4DEV committee during 2009/10 fiscal year. The workshop was based on the NACI's paper that was aimed at intensifying focus on innovation for development. It was attended by four of the nine members of the INNO4DEV ( Prof Francis Petersen [Chair], Prof Lineo Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga, Prof Gerhard Prinsloo and Dr Azar Jammine), the international guest, Prof Susan Cozzens, and five staff members of the Secretariat (Mr Thiambi Netshiluvhi, Ms Nozipho Buthelezi, Ms Rudzani Maila, Mr Lindile Adons and Dr Bok Marais).

The third National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) held its inaugural meeting on Tuesday 2 June 2009 at Villa Sterne Boutique Hotel, Pretoria. The guest of honor at this meeting was Ms Naledi Pandor, the newly appointed Minister of Science and Technology. The meeting was attended by NACI Councillors and members of the NACI Secretariat. Dr Steve Lennon, chairperson of NACI chaired the meeting. The main aim of the meeting was to inaugurate the third NACI Council, report on NACI's progress, map out NACI's work plan as well as to induct the new NACI members on the nature, role and contribution of NACI to the National System of Innovation. The meeting was also aimed at introducing the new Minister to NACI activities and getting a sense of what she expects from NACI as her advisory body.

The Minister was invited to inaugurate the third NACI Council, as appointed by Cabinet to serve for a four year term ending February 2013. In her address, the Minister emphasised the important role that NACI could play in promoting science and technology in order to address the socio-economic challenges facing South Africa.

Dr Anne Lidgard, a Programme Director and member of the management team of the Innovation Actors Division at VINNOVA in Sweden presented a paper entitled "Swedish Research & Innovation System and VINNOVA Policies and lessons learnt" at a NACI seminar held on 18 March 2009 at the DST. The seminar was attended by the members of the NACI Secretariat and the DST officials from various programmes. VINNOVA is the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems that is tasked with promoting sustainable growth by financing needs-driven R&D and developing innovation systems.

Dr Lidgard discussed the Swedish National Innovation System (including international comparisons), its main actors and their responsibilities. Dr Lidgard distinguished between "curiosity driven" and "needs driven" R&D and presented a summary of the VINNOVA strategy to promote Sweden's research and innovation system. She elaborated on the triple helix model for the promotion of collaboration between universities, industry and the public sector and presented examples of VINNOVA funding instruments as well as some VINNOVA success stories.

The Presidency's Deputy Head: Policy Coordination and Advisory Services Alan Hirsch responded to a series of questions posed to him by Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about the so-called 'Framework for South Africa's Response to the International Economic Crisis' released late last week.

The 'Framework' document, which was drafted by government, business, labour and community representative, under the aegis of The Presidency and the National Economic Development and Labour Council, is effectively South Africa's first attempt at articulating a possible stimulus package to deal with the domestic economic consequences of the prevailing downturn in the global economy.

this article was edited by Terence Creamer of Engineering News

The NACI workshop, Broad-based innovations to address socio-economic challenges faced by South Africa was hailed as very timely by the delegates. The key objective of the workshop was to generate strategies for broad-based innovations relevant to socio-economic development.

In his opening address, the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Mosibudi Mangena encouraged participants to think about how South Africa could use innovation to nurture more, and more focused innovation to address the country's many socio-economic challenges. Other speakers focussed on: The cultures of innovation (Prof Andrew Jamison, Aalborg University, Denmark), Mental models and successful innovation (Mr Gordon Butte & Ms Sarah Thorne, Decision Partners, USA), Community-based innovations from informal sector perspective (Prof Hassan Kaya, North West University) and Formal sector perspectives on broad-based innovations (Ms Marjorie Pyoos, DST)

There was broad agreement among speakers, lead-in discussants and break-away groups that

• A new approach  to the process of innovation is critical as a basis for socio-economic development in South Africa
• Social factors underlying innovation need to be understood for innovation to succeed
• An orientation of partnership should be fostered between the first and second economy as innovation role players
• An openness to potential innovations emanating from the second economy

A total of 112 participants were drawn from government departments, science councils, universities, funding and development agencies, research-based institutions and the private sector.

One of the outcomes of the workshop will be the production of a discussion document. The discussion document - and responses to it - will form a basis for NACI to develop an advice that will be presented to the Minister of Science and Technology.

NACI recently hosted a lunch seminar which was addressed by Andrew Jamison, Professor of Technology and Society at Aalborg University in Denmark His topic was Changing Contexts of Knowledge Production and was based on an analytical framework published in a recent book, Hubris and Hybrids - A Cultural History of Technology and Science authored by him and Mikael Hård. The seminar was attended by NACI, DST and ASSAf staff.

The central themes of the presentation were the changing contexts of science and technology, and the broader cultural, economic, and environmental aspects of knowledge production.

He argued that knowledge production has increasingly become an integral part of our contemporary way of life, and, not least, central to economic development. Knowledge produced today is fundamentally different from that produced between the 17th and 19th centuries. During the past century, knowledge production has produced a variety of "hybrid" forms of knowledge with important implications for science, technology and innovation policy.