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It is now well established in the literature that innovation constitutes a key process underpinning economic change within capitalism. This broad consensus does not however imply that there is a single perspective that informs policy thinking on innovation. Rather what has been evidenced over the preceding decades is the emergence of diverse interpretations that however retain resonance with the general appreciation that “…a national system of innovation can only be judged as healthy if the knowledge, technologies, products and processes produced by the national system of science, engineering and technology have been converted into increased wealth, by industry and business, and into an improved quality of life for all members of society”

The purpose of the project reported here is twofold:

1. to assess how community and regional innovation systems have been responding to societal challenges confronting rural South Africans, and
2. to evaluate how the two systems are aligned with each other for increased societal impact. The specific objectives of the study were to: Investigate if community and regional innovation systems exist in South Africa; Explore how such systems respond to both economic and societal challenges; and Establish if there are linkages between the different systems with the aim of encouraging active participation by local rural communities.

The National Biotechnology Advisory Committee’s (NBAC) national workshop entitled, Feeding the Biotechnology Pipeline was held on Thursday 30 September 2010 at the Irene Country Lodge, Irene. The workshop was attended by stakeholders and representatives form the public and private organisations in the biotechnology sector. The aim of the workshop was to explore in particular the scope and nature of policy or system challenges experienced in the biotechnology sector, and this was presented in the following themes: Intellectual Property (IP) awareness, funding gaps, human capacity, and regulatory issues.

The South African Science and Technology Indicators 2009, an update of the 2008 report, provides an overall picture of South Africa’s national system of innovation by presenting statistical data relating to trends and performance. Science and technology indicators are essential tools used by countries for monitoring and evaluating the performance of their national innovation systems. South Africa is no exception. When such indicators are founded on common international practice, they can also be used to analyse our progress (or lack of progress) and position relative to other countries.